KLM and SKyNRG announce new industry partners for their corporate biofuel programmes
Wed 12 Feb 2020 – KLM and SkyNRG have each announced new members of their respective corporate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) programmes. Lavazza becomes KLM’s first Italian partner to the airline’s programme as part of implementing the coffee company’s sustainability objectives across its entire value chain. Partners in the KLM Corporate BioFuel Programme pay a surcharge on their business travel that covers the difference in cost between biofuel and traditional jet kerosene to help stimulate the production of SAF. The programme was launched in 2012 together with Dutch SAF supplier SkyNRG, which itself was formed by KLM in 2009. Last year, SkyNRG started its own corporate SAF programme, Board Now, which extends the reach to non-KLM corporate customers. Its latest member is online air travel platform Etraveli Group, which operates over 20 brands globally.
KLM has been using SAF since 2011 and is currently the only European airline to do so on intercontinental flights. Multinational Lavazza has signed up to the UN 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, as well as having joined the UN Global Compact.
Commenting on joining the KLM programme, Lavazza’s Chief Institutional Relations & Sustainability Officer, Mario Cerutti, said: “This agreement fits perfectly into the responsible development path that we have been pursuing for some time. Participating in the programme shows that today it is not enough to act alone, but an organic effort is needed between all the players in the market, in a transversal way with respect to the sectors: it is up to the leading companies to take the first step.”
Responded Barry ter Voert, SVP Europe at Air France-KLM Group: “KLM is not alone in its desire to make its operations more sustainable. Many companies in a variety of sectors think the same way. We are happy to enter into partnerships with companies to stimulate the availability of SAF on a large scale as it makes the price more economically competitive with that of fossil kerosene. In this way, KLM aims to send a strong signal to all airlines to do more to promote sustainable aviation and greatly reduce our joint environmental footprint.”
Last year, KLM committed to developing and purchasing 75,000 tonnes of sustainable kerosene annually for a period of 10 years from a new facility in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, which is due to open in 2022 and be the first to produce SAF on a commercial scale in Europe (see article). The DSL-01 plant is expected to produce around 100,000 tonnes of SAF annually, produced from wastes and residue streams. The project is being led by SkyNRG.
By joining SkyNRG’s five-year Board Now programme, members are contributing to the development of the plant.
“We are proud that Etraveli Group has signed up as our newest member to Board Now and we believe this sets an example for other international organisations with a carbon footprint from business travel or cargo,” said Theye Veen, Managing Director at SkyNRG. “Commitments like these are crucial in order to scale up the SAF industry and take the development of sustainable fuel worldwide to the next level.”
Headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden, Etraveli brands include Gotogate, Flightnetwork, MyTrip, TripStack and price comparison site Flygresor.se. The group describes itself as a global platform for flights and air technology.
