Etihad takes first sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) delivery at Tokyo Narita

Neste and ITOCHU are celebrating the first delivery its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to Etihad Airways at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport.

The delivery to Etihad marks the first time in Japan that SAF will be supplied to an overseas airline at an airport in Japan.

This milestone is a result of the recently expanded partnership between Neste and ITOCHU to grow the availability of sustainable aviation fuel in Japan.

SAF is a key element to achieving aviation’s emission reduction goals, and both Neste and ITOCHU are committed to supporting Japan in achieving the target of 10% SAF use by 2030, set by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

“This delivery of our Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel to Etihad is a major step forward in further growing the use of our sustainable aviation fuel in the Japanese market,” says Sami Jauhiainen, Neste’s vice president for renewable aviation in Asia-Pacific.

“Our partnership with ITOCHU aims to support domestic and international airlines as well as other fuel suppliers at Haneda and Narita International Airports in accelerating the adoption of SAF to reduce the carbon emissions of flying. I’m excited to see this partnership is already achieving concrete results and I look forward to supporting more airlines in Japan going forward.”

Tony Douglas, Etihad’s group CEO, said: “Etihad has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and reducing our 2019 emissions by 50 percent by 2035.

“For SAF to become a viable mid-term solution for aviation decarbonisation it requires collaboration between governments, corporates and the aviation industry to increase SAF supply and availability at airports, so it can be adapted more broadly.

“Our partnership with ITOCHU and Neste is an example of the type of industry collaboration that is required to bring widespread SAF adoption to the industry. We are extremely proud to be the first international airline to procure and use Japanese supplied SAF on flights departing Japan.”

Neste is currently expanding its SAF production capacity to 1.5 million tons per annum by the end of 2023. That includes up to one million tons of SAF production capacity in Neste’s Singapore refinery via the ongoing Neste Singapore Expansion Project, which will start operations by the end of the first quarter of 2023.