Cathay Pacific has launched its pilot corporate sustainable aviation
fuel (SAF) programme, allowing corporate customers to reduce their
carbon footprint from passenger or cargo flights by contributing to the
use of SAF from Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).
The airline claims to be the first in Asia to introduce the pilot
scheme, following its announcement last year to target 10% SAF for its
total fuel use by 2030.
CEO Augustus Tang said: “We see the launch of this Corporate SAF
Programme as an important step for us to engage other like-minded
organisations, and a first step in sending an important demand signal to
the SAF supply chain that there is firm interest in the region, not
only from airlines, but also the aviation value-chain all the way to end
users for both passenger and cargo transportation.”
The programme has kicked off with eight corporates as launch
customers, including AIA, Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), DHL Global
Forwarding, HSBC, Kintetsu World Express (KWE), PwC China, Standard
Chartered, and Swire Pacific.
The SAF used for this programme is derived from used cooking oil and
animal fat waste, delivered by its pilot corporate SAF programme fuel
suppliers PetroChina and Shell.
SAF is considered the most important way to decarbonise airline
operations in the coming decades. Compared to conventional jet fuel, it
reduces up to 100% carbon emissions on a lifecycle basis, depending on
the SAF technology used.
Besides
Cathay Pacific, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and United Airlines also have
similar schemes in place. IATA has also rolled out a carbon offset
initiative to quantify CO2 emissions per passenger for their specific
flight.