Atoba Energy, Air Moana partner to accelerate SAF deployment in French Polynesia

Photo: Atoba Energy

Atoba Energy and Air Moana have signed an agreement to implement scalable solutions for the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

This strategic collaboration aims to ensure long-term SAF availability while supporting local initiatives to develop sustainable fuel production in Tahiti.

It marks a major step forward in the decarbonization of aviation in the Pacific region, according to Atoba Energy.

As part of this agreement, Atoba Energy will work with Air Moana to build a resilient and competitive SAF supply chain aligned with Air Moana’s progressive sustainability goals from 2026 to 2035.

The strategy will combine the certificate-based book-and-claim method with physical SAF deliveries.

The partnership also includes the ambition to support French Polynesia’s SAF roadmap, with Atoba bringing its expertise in SAF production technologies, market analysis and implementation strategies.

“We are very proud to collaborate with Air Moana, as this partnership reflects the core of Atoba’s mission—to be a flexible, pragmatic and customer-focused SAF provider,” said Atoba Energy CEO Arnaud Namer. “Providing a hybrid approach of certificates and physical deliveries allows us to meet the needs of airlines while developing the SAF value chain. This is our first step in rolling out our ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Air Moana has expressed its intention to enter into a 10-year SAF offtake agreement to progressively increase its supply of sustainable fuel between 2026 and 2035, with decarbonization targets aligned with the European SAF mandate.

“We are proud to partner with Atoba to bring cleaner skies to French Polynesia,” said Air Moana CEO Lionel Guerin. “This memorandum of understanding reflects our long-term vision and our commitment to leading the sustainable transition of aviation in the Pacific. Atoba is an ideal partner for Air Moana thanks to its deep industry knowledge and technology-neutral sourcing solutions, well-suited to remote regions like ours. We are proud to be both the first ATR operator and the first Pacific-based airline to launch such a project.”

Atoba is an intermediary aggregator of SAF that aims to accelerate the energy transition in the aviation sector by resolving the financial dilemma between airlines and producers.

Atoba offers long-term SAF contracts at optimized prices to airlines and fuel resellers.

Its aggregation strategy also helps develop the SAF industry by providing producers with long-term purchase agreements that support their final-investment decisions for production plants.

Air Moana is a regional airline based in French Polynesia that began operations in February 2023 and currently operates three ATR 72-600 aircraft.