Air New Zealand signs 30m litres SAF purchase agreement with Neste
Air New Zealand has signed a purchase agreement with Neste to offtake 30m litres (23,000 tonnes) of neat sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to be used at Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) international airports through to February 2026.
This is Air New Zealand’s largest purchase of SAF to date.
“This purchase represents 1.6% of Air New Zealand’s total fuel supply for our financial year 2025 meaning we will reach our SAF target for the year. It is still a very small proportion of our total fuel use but it is four times more than the volume of SAF we used in our financial year 2024, so I am very happy with the trajectory. Like all airlines, we urgently need to move away from our high reliance on fossil fuels as quickly as we can, and securing year-on-year higher volumes of SAF is critical,” said Kiri Hannifin, Air New Zealand’s chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer.
Earlier, Nese delivered SAF to Air New Zealand at LAX in 2024 and at Auckland Airport in New Zealand in 2022.
The SAF will be delivered to Air New Zealand via the fuel supply systems at both US airports using Neste’s existing fuel supply capabilities into these airports.
“We are proud to support Air New Zealand’s efforts to increase their use of SAF to reduce aviation emissions. This supply of our Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel at Los Angeles and San Francisco airports is another great step in our cooperation, and we are looking forward to continuing working together with Air New Zealand to help them reach their climate goals,” said Alexander Kueper, vice president renewable aviation business, Neste.
The SAF will be produced at Neste’s Singapore site from renewable waste and residue raw materials such as animal fat waste and used cooking oil.
In June of 2024, Air New Zealand announced that it received delivery of 500,000 litres of SAF at Wellington blended by Exxon Mobil and manufactured by EcoCeres in China. The fuel was first-ever SAF to be delivered to the country’s capital and was produced from used cooking oil. The airline said the fuel will be used on Air New Zealand’s ATR aircraft.