Turkish Airlines signs Global SAF Declaration

Turkish Airlines continues its support for the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which plays a key role in reducing carbon emissions. The airline started to actively use SAF during its operations this year, and it emphasized the importance of this for the company by signing the Global SAF Declaration.

The Global SAF Declaration represents collaboration between aviation, aerospace and fuel partners to completely decarbonize aviation by accelerating the development, production and consumption of SAF.

Turkish Airlines plans to increase SAF usage to the highest levels within technical, regulatory, safety and financial feasibility.

“Reducing its emissions significantly with the inclusion of new-generation aircraft to its fleet, operational optimizations and high-level fuel saving applications, Turkish Airlines will continue its support and investment to sustainable aviation fuels,” said Levent Konukçu, Turkish Airlines’ chief investment and technology officer.

Christian Scherer, the chief commercial officer and head of Airbus International, added, “Airbus is fully committed to developing a sustainable aviation industry, across the value chain, that will reduce the environmental impact of flying. The declaration supports exactly that and today, Turkish Airlines has responded to the call to join this initiative, signing up to work with all the stakeholders in our journey towards zero emission aircraft. I am proud that Turkey is demonstrating its commitment in this endeavor.”

Grazia Vittadini, Rolls-Royce’s chief technology officer, said, “Working together with our industry partners across the value chain to encourage the uptake of sustainable aviation fuels is a key part of the Rolls-Royce sustainability strategy. We welcome Turkish Airline’s commitment to signing the SAF Declaration and for its support of this important initiative. By signing this agreement, the airline has also given a clear signal that Turkey is fully behind driving the momentum and collaboration necessary for a successful transition to a more sustainable future for global aviation.”

Starting to use SAF for the first time in 2022 on the Istanbul Airport-Paris Charles De Gaulle route, Turkish Airlines extended this usage to its Paris, Oslo, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, London and Stockholm for one day of every week.

Global airlines intend to increase the frequencies and destinations served with SAF in the future.

SAF records up to an 87 percent decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions compared to traditional kerosene fuel.

Additionally, Turkish Airlines cooperates with universities to support biofuel research and development in order to reduce the fossil fuel usage in aviation.

In this regard, the “Microalgae Based Sustainable Bio-Jet Fuel Project (MICRO-JET)” is being conducted with Boğaziçi University and supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey).

After the successful conclusion of the project, the goal will be to use this biofuel, which will be obtained from sustainable sources, in its flights after the engine tests are carried out by Turkish Technic in 2022.