Shell, Ryanair sign supply agreement for sustainable aviation fuel

Fowler, sustainability director for Ryanair, left, and Toschka, president of Shell Aviation, third from left (Photo: Ryanair)

Europe’s largest airline, Ryanair, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shell Dec. 1 to advance the supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at more than 200 Ryanair airports across Europe, with particular focus on SAF supply at the airline’s largest bases like Dublin and London Stansted.

While SAF is a key enabler of aviation decarbonization, it currently accounts for just a small fraction of worldwide jet fuel usage.

This agreement with Shell gives Ryanair potential access to 120 million gallons of SAF between 2025 and 2030, saving more than 900,000 metric tons in CO2 emissions—the equivalent of more than 70,000 flights from Dublin to Milan.

The SAF that is covered by this MOU could potentially be produced from multiple different technology pathways and a broad range of sustainable feedstocks.

This agreement, which was signed at the Sustainable Aviation Research Centre in Trinity College Dublin, where Ryanair and the school held an aviation-sustainability day, demonstrates both Ryanair and Shell’s commitment to work together to invest in SAF supply.

Ryanair has set ambitious targets of 12.5 percent SAF by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

“SAF plays a key role in our pathway to net-zero strategy,” said Thomas Fowler, Ryanair’s sustainability director. “Today’s agreement with Shell helps Ryanair secure access to [approximately] 20 percent of this ambitious goal. Shell is a key sustainability partner for Ryanair, and we look forward to building on this collaboration with Shell as our group grows sustainably to carry 225 million passengers annually by 2026.”

President of Shell Aviation, Jan Toschka, added, “It is fantastic to build on our existing relationship with Ryanair to now look at what we can achieve together on sustainability. This initial agreement demonstrates that both companies recognize that SAF is the key to unlock a net-zero future for aviation. We share the same ambition to enable Ryanair’s passengers to fly lower carbon. Leadership and bold actions are needed to accelerate the decarbonization of flight, and today’s announcement is a great example of this.”