Rotterdam Airport to blend SAF on all aircrafts from 2024
Shell and Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTHA) signed a long-term agreement to blend sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on all aircraft fuelled at the airport from 2024.
The agreement will help the RTHA to accelerate efforts by helping it meet its minimum target of 8% blending mandate beyond the European target of 6%.
“Sustainable fuel is essential for the future of aviation”, says Wilma van Dijk, CEO, RTHA. “This long-term agreement makes it possible for Shell to invest in production facilities while allowing airlines to gradually adapt to a new reality.”
“It’s fantastic to support Rotterdam The Hague Airport on decarbonising flights through the use of SAF,” added Jan Toschka, President of Shell Aviation. “It is particularly encouraging to see an airport committing to long-term SAF agreements, for volumes above the levels required under EU mandates. This type of ambition helps play an important role in providing strong, stable demand that is necessary for scaling up the supply and use of SAF.”
Shell is building an 820,000-tonnes-a-year biofuels facility at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam, which will produce SAF and renewable diesel made from waste.
As a result of the European blending mandate, the aviation sector must blend in 2% SAF across the board by 2025. The target for 2030 is 6%. However, this is not enough to meet the Dutch aviation sector’s more ambitious target of 14% SAF by 2030, as set out in the Sustainable Aviation Agreement.
In the past year, the Netherlands has taken various step advance SAF production and utilization. The Dutch government invested €20m in the construction of a SAF plant in Rotterdam, a collaboration with SkyNRG, which is expected to produce 50,000 tons of SAF annually once fully operational.
To incentivize airlines to adopt SAF, the Dutch government has introduced financial incentives, including tax breaks and subsidies. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the country’s flag carrier, has taken advantage of these incentives and has committed to using SAF on all its flights from Amsterdam to Los Angeles by 2024.