SAS signs agreement for regular biofuel powered flights

SAS has, along with the Lufthansa Group and KLM, signed an agreement with Statoil Aviation for a regular supply of biofuel at Oslo Airport. SAS was first off the ground in Norway and from Stockholm Arlanda in Sweden with a biofuel mix and this agreement shows the airline takes its corporate social responsibility seriously in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.

Via an agreement signed with Avinor and the above named airlines, Statoil Aviation is to supply 2.5 million liters (660,430 gallons) of biofuel to the refueling facility at Oslo Airport. With a 50 percent biofuel mix, this will fuel around 3,000 flights between Oslo and Bergen and make OSL the first major airport in the world to offer a regular supply of biofuel as part of daily operations from March 2015.

“For the past ten years or more, SAS has been striving to accelerate the commercialization of renewable fuel, so this is an important concrete step in moving towards sustainable aviation,” says Rickard Gustafson, group CEO of SAS.

Via a continuous renewal of its airline fleet and a comprehensive environment efficiency drive in the air and on the ground, SAS has reduced its total CO2 emissions by the airline by around 13 percent since 2005. The airline has also enjoyed an increase in production over the same period. SAS is also the first and only airline in Scandinavia whose fleet consists exclusively of next generation jet aircraft. From next year, the most energy efficient short and long-haul aircraft will be rolled out one after the other: Airbus 330 Enhanced, Airbus 320 Neo, followed by the Airbus 350.

“At a time when we are investing in the very latest technology in the air that will help cut environmentally harmful emissions, we also need to reduce the negative environmental impact at an even quicker pace, of which the introduction of biofuel is the most important part,” says Gustafson.

SAS aims to use synthetic fuel on an increasingly regular basis in the next few years, and expects biofuel to become competitive with the fossil fuel alternative. For this to happen, a general environment and tax policy will be required from governments, based on aviation being a form of internationally competitive public transport with thin profit margins.