IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group completed its first sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) charter chain of 16 flights from Stuttgart to Atlanta last week. Working with their partner Kuehne+Nagel, IAG Cargo sourced 1.2million litres of Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ from Neste. This collaboration marks the first time ever that passenger -freighter charter flights are operated with net-zero carbon emissions*.

The last of the British Airways B787-900 flights left Stuttgart on June 26 collecting on average 45 tonnes of automotive spares and other industrial goods destined for Atlanta via London Heathrow. The business has now completed more than 300 (328) automotive charters since it began its Charter service last year.

The SAF was provided by Neste, the world’s leading provider of sustainable aviation fuel. Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel is made from sustainably sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials. In its neat form and over the life cycle, its use can reduce up to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil jet fuel use**. The SAF, sourced by IAG, was blended with fossil jet fuel to comply with aviation fuel certification standards, shipped to the UK from Europe and then transported by underground pipelines into Heathrow.

John Cheetham, Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Cargo commented: “International Airlines Group was the first European airline group to commit to powering 10 per cent of its flights with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030. These charters mark IAG Cargo’s first step on that journey – we’re incredibly proud of our commitment to long-term sustainability, helping to reduce carbon footprint overall.

“We are constantly looking at ways which reduce our impact on the environment whilst improving our customer offering and we were delighted to support Kuehne+Nagel with sourcing Neste-produced SAF to power these landmark charters, the first of many.”

Answering growing customer demand for environmentally friendly logistics, Kuehne+Nagel is proactively expanding its sustainable services portfolio with innovative and easily customised shipping options. The overall commitment so far of 12.7M litres of SAF allows Kuehne+Nagel customers to benefit from immediately available alternative fuel solutions to reduce CO2 emissions of their air freight globally.

Yngve Ruud, Member of the Management Board of Kuehne+Nagel, responsible for Air Logistics commented: “Climate change has now given new urgency to the search for cleaner, renewable fuels as they are currently the most effective measure to achieve true decarbonisation in our industry. Kuehne+Nagel is committed to increase its supply of SAF as part of our ambitious Net Zero Carbon programme. Our work with our suppliers is critical here, with trusted partners like IAG Cargo playing a vital role in the attainment of our goals and by fostering deployment of sustainable fuels so our like-minded customers can ship their products CO2 neutral in an easy and transparent way.”

Jonathan Wood, Vice President Europe, Renewable Aviation at Neste commented: “Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel provides immediate emission reductions and is already available today, playing a pivotal role in decarbonising the aviation industry. We continue to scale up our operations and will have the capacity to produce some 1.5 million tons of SAF annually by the end of 2023.”

Neste aims to work with customers to help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030.

IAG is investing US$400 million in the development of sustainable aviation fuel supply over the next 20 years. As part of this, British Airways is partnering with sustainable aviation fuel technology company Velocys to develop Europe’s first household waste-to-jet fuel plant in the UK, which is expected to start operations in 2026. The airline has also committed to purchase sustainable jet fuel from LanzaJet’s US plant as part of their investment deal in LanzaJet Inc. (US) to power some of its flights from late 2022.

SAF is currently the most effective measure to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of shipping. In contrast to fossil fuels, which are exhaustible resources and release additional CO2 emissions, SAFs are produced from renewable raw materials, such as biomass or waste and residues, enabling significantly reduced emissions.