It has been a turbulent year for the commercial aviation sector, however the longer term questions regarding sustainable fuels haven’t gone away. Airliner World spoke with Tom Parsons, Air bp’s commercial development manager, low carbon, to discuss some of the biggest issues facing the industry
ALW: We hear a lot about biofuels – what are they and how do they work in an aviation context?
TP: Biofuel is also known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). It’s produced from sustainable, renewable feedstocks and is very similar in its chemistry to fossil jet fuel. SAF gives an impressive reduction of up to 80% in CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of the fuel compared with the fossil jet fuel it replaces, depending on the sustainable feedstock used, production method and the supply chain to the airport.