Jet2.com to use SAF on flights from Bristol Airport in England

Photo: Jet2 plc

Jet2.com announced March 7 that it will use a blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Bristol Airport in 2024, almost a year ahead of the U.K. government’s SAF mandate due to be introduced in 2025. 

The U.K.’s third-largest airline has purchased over 300 metric tons of SAF from Q8Aviation, which will be used to add a 1 percent SAF blend onto a number of departing flights from Bristol Airport this year.

The total emissions of the SAF that Jet2.com has purchased are at least 70 percent lower than those of conventional aviation fuel. 

As well as realizing these benefits, using blended SAF in 2024 means that Jet2.com can prepare its operation ahead of the U.K. SAF mandate, which will be introduced Jan. 1, 2025.

As part of this mandate, airlines have been set a target that at least 10 percent of jet fuel should be made from SAF by 2030.  

SAF is recognized as one of the best methods to decarbonize aviation in the short to medium term, including recently by the Transport Select Committee, which stated, “SAFs are the most viable option for the immediate reduction of aviation emissions.”

In addition to the March 7 announcement, Jet2 plc has already made an equity investment into a new SAF production plant to be constructed in the North West of England—one of the first such deals in U.K. aviation.  

The Fulcrum NorthPoint facility, being developed by Fulcrum BioEnergy Ltd., will operate as a waste-to-fuels plant, with Jet2.com set to receive more than 200 million liters (52.8 million gallons) of SAF once operational.

The plant will also generate up to 1,500 jobs, benefitting the national and local economy. 

This investment in SAF is just part of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays’ journey to net zero by 2050, in line with government targets, although the company aspires to bring this date forward.

The company has published a sustainability strategy, which outlines its targets and actions, with an update due to be released this year. 

Despite Jet2’s investments into SAF, without a full-fledged domestic SAF industry, the U.K. remains reliant on fuel imported at a high cost or requires airlines to pay a buy-out price, putting U.K. airlines and holidaymakers at a competitive disadvantage. 

“Travel and tourism is a force for good and, like all industries, we know how critical it is to mitigate our climate impacts,” said Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays. “Like many, we see SAF as essential in helping the industry do this, which is why we are using a SAF blend at Bristol Airport in 2024 so that we can realize its benefits and prepare our operation for what we anticipate will be more and more SAF uptake. This announcement, in addition to our investment into a new SAF plant in the North West of England, shows how committed we are to SAF and how much we believe in unlocking its huge potential. We very much see 1 percent as the starting point and we want to grow this materially over the coming years.”

Heapy continued, saying, “Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go to unlock the huge potential of a U.K. SAF industry. Without more supplies of U.K. SAF and greater support to incentivize its uptake and reduce its cost, our industry and U.K. holidaymakers are at a disadvantage. This is too much of an important opportunity to miss, as such an industry could provide 20,000 jobs and £3 billion (USD$3.86 billion) in economic activity by 2035. The U.K. government must implement the price-revenue mechanism earlier than the current timeline of 2026, which means we can secure investor confidence, build the U.K. SAF plants that we need, and turbocharge the U.K. SAF industry.”