Qantas, Airbus, Australia’s Queensland plan SAF plant

Australia's Qantas, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the Queensland government will invest in a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in the Australian state with up to 100mn litres/yr of production capacity.

The proposed plant will use US SAF producer LanzaJet's technology to convert agricultural by-products including sugarcane into bio-jet fuel through the alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) pathway, Qantas announced on 30 March. The SAF produced will be used on domestic routes including Qantas flights, the Queensland government said.

Qantas and Airbus will jointly invest A$2mn ($1.3mn), while Queensland will contribute A$760,000 and institutional funds will provide another A$4mn to complete a detailed feasibility study and early-stage project development, Qantas said. Construction is expected to start in 2024.

This is the first project to be funded under a partnership announced between Qantas and Airbus in June last year, which was set up to kick-start an Australian SAF industry.

Qantas aims to blend 10pc SAF in its overall fuel mix by 2030, but only has supply deals in place for flights out of London and Californian airports so far because of a lack of SAF availability on home soil.

"This is one of several projects that we are looking to fund this year, all of which will help accelerate the development of a local SAF industry in Australia", Qantas' chief sustainability officer Andrew Parker said.

By Lauren Moffitt