Emirates has taken delivery of more than 3,000 metric tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Shell Aviation at London Heathrow Airport.
The neat SAF will be blended with conventional jet fuel and supplied into the airport’s fuelling infrastructure network until the end of the summer season.
This is the first time the carrier will be using SAF to power ‘some’ of its flights at the London hub and represents the largest volume of SAF it has purchased to date following a recent deal with Neste to provide SAF to its flights from Amsterdam Schiphol.
Emirates is also participating in London Heathrow’s SAF Incentive Programme, which covers up to 50 per cent of the added cost of SAF.
Emirates deputy president and chief operations officer, Adel Al Redha, said: “Emirates is eager to take this next step in our SAF journey with Shell Aviation and London Heathrow supporting us with this fuel supply arrangement in one of our biggest operations outside of Dubai.
“The LHR Incentive Programme will support the SAF market’s increasing momentum, allowing airlines like Emirates to take advantage of its availability and make it more commercially viable.”
Heathrow chief commercial officer, Ross Baker, added: “Thanks to commitments from airlines like Emirates, we expect to support the use of up to 155,000 tonnes of SAF at Heathrow this year.”
Emirates currently operates flights with blended SAF from Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon, Oslo and, from May, also from Singapore. The carrier said it is “exploring opportunities” to increase use of the alternative aviation fuel across its network.