IATA calls for incentives to boost Malaysia’s SAF industry

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recommended Malaysia to introduce tax credits to incentivise sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry, according to a report published by the Malaysian national news agency Bernama.

The IATA has called on the south east Asian country to include these incentives in the upcoming 2025 budget.

The report quoted IATA’s regional vice-president for North Asia and Asia Pacific Dr Xie Xingquan as saying that putting long-term benefits in place will help Malaysia develop its SAF policy. “This is regarding the recovery of Malaysia’s aviation sector, which is progressing well, with full recovery expected in 2025,” according to the report.

However, he also acknowledged the Malaysian government for the launch of Malaysia Aviation Decarbonisation Blueprint (MADB) which he said will encourage SAF in the country.

MADB’s decarbonisation strategy for aviation technology aims to achieve a 18% reduction in emissions by 2050. The government aims to achieve the target through a combination of operational improvements via increasing efficiency in aircraft operations to reduce fuel consumption by 5%.

In addition, the strategy eyes using SAF to make up 46.2% of aviation fuel, significantly reducing carbon emissions, and utilise carbon offsetting through investing in carbon offset projects to compensate for the remaining emissions, accounting for 30.8% of the overall reduction goal.