Swedavia takes first delivery of jet biofuel purchased through the Nordic Fly Green Fund initiative
Refuelling of SAS aircraft with biofuel purchased by Swedavia
Wed 11 Jan 2017 – Swedish airport operator Swedavia has become the first company to purchase jet biofuel through the Nordic Fly Green Fund initiative, which aims to provide finance to assist in the development of large-scale jet biofuel production and usage in the region. Swedavia took delivery of 450 tonnes of biofuel, costing SEK7.5 million ($825,000), just before the New Year and corresponds to the amount of fuel used for the company’s business travel in 2016. The fuel was used on a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight from Stockholm Arlanda to Copenhagen on January 5 and marked another step in being the first time jet biofuel has been supplied to an aircraft through the airport’s regular fuel logistics infrastructure. Swedavia said its investment in the fuel would help both promote domestic production and achieve the ambition of making Swedish domestic air travel fossil-free by 2030.
“We at Swedavia want to lead the way and help increase the demand for aviation biofuel,” commented CEO Jonas Abrahamsson. “We pay the added cost for the more expensive biofuel, which is something that other companies, organisations and individuals also have an opportunity to do today. When demand rises, market players will dare to invest in this alternative to today’s fuel.”
The initiative to purchase jet biofuel is also part of Swedavia’s target of zero emissions of fossil CO2 from its own operations by 2020.
The jet biofuel was produced by AltAir Fuels in the United States and delivered by SkyNRG in partnership with Air BP.
The Fly Green Fund was set up by SkyNRG, the Nordic Initiative for Sustainable Aviation (NISA) and Karlstad Airport, with five partners: Swedavia, Braathens, SAS, KLM and a leading business aviation company, EFS. The partners pay the Fund’s administrative costs so that the money coming into the fund can be used to towards jet biofuel purchase and production. Companies and individuals can then offset their air travel carbon footprint through payments to the Fund, which has been set up as a non-profit company. So far, it has three corporate customers with annual agreements – Swedavia, Löfbergs and Resia – and a growing number of private customers who can pay directly from their mobile phones via a Swedish payment system called Swish. Swedavia has promoted this method at its airports through social channels.
Three-quarters of the funds received are used for the purchase of sustainable jet biofuel, the remainder to support production in the Nordic region of such fuels.
Fly Green Fund Managing Director Maria Fiskerud described the Swedavia jet biofuel purchase as a milestone for the Fund.
“By buying sustainable aviation fuel for their staff flights, Swedavia reduces its own carbon footprint and contributes to developing a sustainable future for aviation,” she said. “Our other corporate and Swish customers have contributed as well. We are grateful to everyone that has been part of this. It is a real joint effort and shows that together we can grow the sustainable aviation market in the Nordics. We have set an example for others to follow.”
Added SkyNRG CFO Theye Veen: “It is great to see that so much is happening in the Nordics. After founding the Fly Green Fund two years ago and after a lot of ground work, this is a huge result thanks to Swedavia. It is a good example that airports are perfectly positioned to support the development of sustainable aviation fuels.”
