Airbus, Air France complete inaugural SAF A220 ferry flight

Photo: Airbus

An Air France Airbus A220 completed its delivery flight Aug. 25 from Airbus’ site in Mirabel, Canada, to Paris, France, powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). 

This marked a significant step forward, according to Airbus, as it directly issued official sustainability credentials for SAF to a customer for the first time. 

Airbus said this landmark flight not only confirms its capability to provide proofs of sustainability (POS) directly to customers and operators but also supports the industry’s commitment to decarbonization.  

With POS credits for a 50 percent SAF blend applied through the mass-balance process, this ferry flight conducted by Air France’s 46th A220-300 named “Vaison-La-Romaine” represented more than 25 metric tons of reduction in lifecycle greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions compared to fossil fuels.  

“Fleet renewal and the use of sustainable aviation fuel are the two main levers of the decarbonization of aviation,” said Blaise Brigaud, Air France-KLM's senior vice president of group sustainability. “Combining the two is only logical and Air France-KLM is proud to participate in this Airbus milestone with the delivery flight of one of our A220s. Air France-KLM is among the world’s largest buyers of SAF. Directly receiving SAF at delivery is a game-changer, increasing transparency and driving industry progress.”   

Since the announcement of the first SAF delivery at Airbus site in Canada, enabling the Mirabel teams to use SAF for A220 production, customer acceptance and test flights, the aerospace company said this achievement solidifies its commitment to using SAF for internal operations as well as customer ferry flights across all its commercial-aircraft assembly sites and delivery centers worldwide. 

“In 2025 alone, we project cutting CO2 emissions by approximately 400 metric tons at our Mirabel site thanks to the 170,000 liters of pure SAF we will integrate to our activities,” said Benoît Schultz, CEO of Airbus Canada. “And we’re pushing our ambition further with this ferry flight with POS credits for 50 percent SAF—a significant step that comes just ahead of Air France’s 50th A220 delivery later this year. On a global scale, 78 percent of Airbus aircraft were delivered with SAF blend for the first half of the year, underscoring the importance our customers place on decarbonization.” 

As with all Airbus aircraft, the A220 is already capable of operating with up to 50 percent SAF.  

Airbus aims for all its aircraft to be capable of operating with up to 100 percent SAF by 2030.  

According to the POS under the CORSIA sustainability-certification scheme approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the SAF received at Airbus in Mirabel is certified for 85 percent reduction in GHG emissions on its lifecycle compared to fossil fuel.  

This substantial reduction is crucial to the aerospace industry’s progress towards decarbonization by 2050. 

SAF management in Mirabel is done using mass balance, a chain-of-custody model in which a company accounts for volumes of certified products by looking at the volumes entering the operation and the equivalent volume of products leaving the operations as a measurement, minus any processing losses.  

As such, the SAF is blended with conventional aviation fuel (Jet A-1) per established industry standards and auditable bookkeeping.  

Air France’s first A220-300s, part of a total firm order of 60 aircraft, have been flying on its medium-haul network since October 2021.  

The A220 delivers up to 25 percent lower fuel burn and CO2 emissions per seat compared to previous generation aircraft.