0.6% SAF blended in jet fuel during 2024: EASA

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency released its ReFuelEU Aviation Annual Technical Report for the year 2024 wherein it said that the aviation fuel supplier delivered 192,700t of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) of 0.6% of the total jet fuel to Union airports during 2024.

According to Eurostat figures, nearly 80,000 tonnes or 40% of SAF was imported in the EU.

From a pricing perspective, SAF averaged at €2,085 per tonne against an average of €734 per tonne – a multiple of 2.84x.

In total, aviation fuel suppliers delivered 32.1m metric tonnes of aviation fuel to airports.

To note, the SAF mandate advocates this number to 2% from 2025 onwards however the ReFuelEU came in effect from 2024. Under this, nearly 67% (83 out of 123) obligated fuel suppliers were required to submit reports on the total jet fuel and SAF supplied at the EU airports.

Of the 0.6% SAF supplied to airports, EASA said that nearly 81% of the SAF was produced from used cooking oil, 17% from waste animal fat and remainder from other feedstock sources. Of this feedstock, 69% originated from non-EU countries, with China contributing 38% and Malaysia 12%. Finland as the largest European contributor stood at 10%.

EASA, in its assessment of SAF production capacities in the EU, revealed a notable increase in the number of EU Member States hosting SAF production activity, rising to 17 in 2024 – based on at least one SAF production project in a given country. This represents a substantial increase compared to the figure of 12 EU Member States identified for 2023 in the previous year’s assessment.

Further analysing this production pipeline, the EASA noted that existing production pipeline is sufficient to meet the minimum SAF usage shares till 2030 – excluding eSAF. However, it did warn that the production needs to significantly ramp up in order to achieve the 2030 targets.

However, the EASA warned that the outlook for eSAF remains poor. According to its optimistic production scenario, the EASA said that the total SAF production capacity is projected at 5.2 Mt (excluding synthetic aviation fuel amounts), with an additional 0.7 Mt of synthetic aviation fuels.

Compared to last year’s assessment, the production capacities of synthetic aviation fuels available by 2030 has decreased due to the cancellation or suspension of several projects.