The chief executives of three airlines have pushed back against suggestions there will be insufficient raw material to feed the ramp-up in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.
Asked where that raw material would come from during a panel discussion at the Farnborough air show on 22 July, Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson said he foresaw a “path forward” for the industry.
“India has assessed that it has the capacity to build SAF production four times the anticipated consumption,” he states.
“There is plenty of marginal land which is not fit for agricultural use but may be able to produce feedstock for SAF.”
Beyond India, Wilson observes that production might not be possible in every country, but that “plenty of geographies” would contribute to the ramp-up.
“Just as fossil fuel is found in particular geographies, SAF is going to specialise in not necessarily the same geographies,” he says.
Luis Gallego, the chief executive of British Airways and Iberia owner IAG, says he expects the next generation of SAF to be the most scalable so far.
He cites IAG’s recently signed agreement with power-to-liquid producer Twelve, stating: “They are producing SAF from CO2, water and renewable energies; we need to find a way of doing this in a bigger scale but not very expensive.
“I think it will arrive.”
Pegasus chief executive Guliz Ozturk meanwhile pushes back against the suggestion that feedstock sourcing is for airlines to solve, saying: “We are not the party to answer this – we are the party who will buy it, use it.”
Ozturk expresses some optimism that the supply will be secured, however.
“That’s the question on the table but I am sure that with significant investment… and government incentivising production and R&D activities, we will find a way to that,” she states.
