On April 12, Europe’s largest airline and Low Cost Carrier, Ryanair, announced the airline is now operating 100% of their Amsterdam flights with a SAF blend.
Ryanair’s latest signed SAF deal was with Shell back in December of last year, and the airline has shown a lot of interest for Sustainable Aviation Fuel in the time since then.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or “SAF” as it is most commonly referred to, has been a hot topic and a primary solution in making flight operations more sustainable.
All in with SAF to Amsterdam
April has seen the major low-cost carrier Ryanair operating all of its Amsterdam flights with a 40% SAF blend.
Simultaneously, Ryanair also announced the extension of its partnership with the world’s leading SAF provider, Neste, who will stand to provide the SAF for these flights.
The increased usage of SAF represents the latest milestone development in Ryanair’s goal of operating 12.5% of all flights with SAF by year 2030.
The move also further supports Ryanair’s “Pathway to Net Zero by 2050” decarbonisation goals – a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a mere 32%.
On this occasion, Ryanair’s Director of Sustainability, Thomas Fowler said the following:
“Ryanair is delighted to extend our partnership with Neste to increase the amount of Ryanair flights at Amsterdam being powered with a 40% blend of SAF from a third of flights to our entire Amsterdam operation from 1 April.”
“Increasing the use of SAF is a fundamental pillar of our Pathway to Net Zero by 2050 decarbonisation strategy and this increase at Amsterdam will reduce greenhouse gas emissions of our flights from there by 32%.”
“We look forward to continuing our growing partnership with Neste as we further progress our goal of operating 12.5% of Ryanair flights with SAF by 2030.”
Neste’s Statement
The Sustainable Aviation Fuel provider Neste has also issued a comment, with Alexander Küper, Neste’s Vice President EMEA, Renewable Aviation stating:
“Decarbonising aviation is more important than ever, and we are proud to support Ryanair in achieving their ambitious Pathway to Net Zero by 2050.”
“Increasing the usage of SAF to all flights departing from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is a major milestone enabling Ryanair to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions of its operations at the airport.”
“We look forward to continuing working together with Ryanair on the reduction of their emissions as we increase our annual SAF production capability to 1.5 million tons per annum by the end of 2023.”
Overall
Ryanair clearly displays their commitment to environmental improvements and sustainability by operating all of these flights with a SAF blend.
This initiative plays a greater part in the budget airline’s moves toward greater fuel and flight sustainability in general.
Ryanair previously introduced drag reducing Split Scimitar Winglets, to be implemented on their 737-800NG fleet in order to reduce fuel usage to some degree, further reducing overall operating costs per year.
Overall, Ryanair’s commitment to SAF proves to be strong, and the company proves that greatly.
