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Lufthansa’s Carsten Spohr: ‘In Europe we see a mandate forcing us to use SAF that isn’t being produced, forcing up prices. This [requires] government intervention’


EU ‘asleep at the wheel’ over production of SAF


Air bosses urge political support for ‘clean’ fuel, reports Ian Taylor from Brussels


Airline chiefs have hit out at EU and UK leaders over their failure to firm up financial support for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. They point to the US Inflation


Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 which will direct almost $400 billion in federal funds towards ‘clean’ energy, including SAF production, and argue Europe has failed to respond. Speaking at the Airlines for Europe


(A4E) summit in Brussels last week, Ryanair group chief executive Michael


48 6 APRIL 2023


O’Leary said: “The market will not supply SAFs at a meaningful price and in meaningful volumes. There has to be government intervention.” He insisted: “We would all use


SAF. But the SAF we can obtain between now and 2024 will be less than 1% of our fuel. How do we increase the amounts available? “I don’t need an environmental


incentive. I’m all over it [fuel efficiency] like a rash. But the infrastructure isn’t there. The incentives aren’t


there. Europe is asleep at the wheel.” Lufthansa group chief executive


Carston Spohr agreed, saying: “If all the SAF produced in the world goes to us now, it would last five days. If the European aviation industry had it, it would be gone in one day. The volumes are huge. “We buy all the SAF we can, but right now the SAF price is five times


Continued on page 46 travelweekly.co.uk


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