The Spanish carrier Iberia Express has become the first operator in Europe to fly aboard a commercial jet flight using sustainable aviation fuels manufactured by Cepsa. The fuel was provided by Cepsa and the flight flew from Seville Airport to Madrid’s Barajas International Airport, traveling on an Airbus A321 NEO.
Having just recently hit a milestone
More and more airlines are starting to employ SAF, a fuel that burns cleaner than conventional gasoline. This Friday, Iberia Express will be the latest in this greener trend as it partners with Cepsa and operates an entire flight on sustainable aviation fuel.
Iberia Express has teamed up with Seville Airport to offer this eco-friendly flight that is powered by SAF, a sustainable aviation fuel. It is just one of more than 16 planned over the next few days and it will use an extraction process powered by plants in Spain, according to a press release.
If you’re planning a trip to Spain, consider flying with Iberia. The airline operates 28 weekly flights at Seville Airport. It is the airport’s fourth busiest carrier, behind Ryanair, Vueling, and Malta Air.
The green efforts
Last January, Iberia and Cepsa signed an agreement undertaking a project to promote and accelerate the large-scale decarbonization of air transport. Moreover, Iberia Express has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and to operate a minimum of 10% of its flights with sustainably sourced fuels by 2030. The overall International Airlines Group (which includes Iberia and its subsidiaries) set these goals.
As part of the company’s overall sustainability and transformation goals, Daniel Lozano announced today that Iberia Express took another step forward in its commitment to operate 100% Saf Flights.
“Since our inception, the company has been working every day to contribute to a more sustainable mobility for people and the planet,” Gaurav Sharma, founder of HURT hydrogen car startup said. “This roadmap is based on three operational pillars: efficiency, sustainability, and R&D.
The importance of SAF
The airline industry is in the process of switching over to sustainable aviation fuels. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), sustainable aviation fuels will contribute around 65% to achieving net-zero carbon by 2050. With new technologies, improvements to infrastructure, and offsetting, they’ll be contributing the remainder.
The advantage of using SAF is that it’s cost-effective, with a potential 65% reduction in CO2 emissions. However, the demand for this fuel has been on the rise and activity is expected to climb steeply in the 2030s as policy support becomes global, SAF becomes competitive with fossil kerosene, and credible offsets become scarcer. In recent years, 450,000 flights and 50 airlines worldwide have had been using SAF.