Biofuel used for refuelling at five Swedavia airports

(Movie in Swedish)

Swedavia’s delivery of biofuel, made from used cooking oil, will refuel aircrafts at five of the company’s airports in December. That makes these Swedavia airports some of the only ones in the world that will use a percentage of biofuel to refuel aircraft serving them during 2018. Bio aviation potentially reduces fossil carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 per cent, compared to conventional jet fuel.

– Air travel needs to be part of the transport of the future and it must be sustainable. In the short term, biofuel is the solution that can provide the most benefit for the climate so investments in this are absolutely essential. With our forests as raw material, we also have good opportunities for large-scale domestic production of biofuel. There is potential here for a new Swedish industrial sector and a showcase for the country, says Jonas Abrahamsson, president and CEO of Swedavia.

Swedavia has worked with the biofuel issue for many years, and since 2016 it has purchased biofuel corresponding to the fuel used on the company’s flights for business purposes. That is equal to about 450 tonnes of fuel annually.

– Functioning policy instruments are also needed to enable a large-scale shift to bio aviation fuel. We would therefore, as an alternative to the aviation tax, welcome a government initiative that makes it compulsory for suppliers to supply a certain amount of biofuel, which will reduce the climate impact of air travel while also stimulating Swedish large-scale production, says Jonas Abrahamsson.

Swedavia aims at all ten of the company’s airports shall be fossil-free by 2020, which is being achieved above all through large-scale investments in biofuel for and electrification of all ground vehicles. Another of the company’s targets is that five per cent of all fuel used to refuel aircraft at Swedish airports shall be fossil-free by 2025 – a goal that is line with the air transport industry’s work for fossil-free air travel. In Sweden, the industry’s goal is for domestic air travel to be fossil-free by 2030 and for all air travel in the country to be fossil-free by 2045.

Swedavia purchases the biofuel from the Fly Green Fund, which provides companies and individuals with the opportunity to buy bio aviation fuel for their flights. The fuel was produced by World Energy and delivered by SkyNRG in partnership with Shell.