Commercial, Sourcing Renewables  -  December 6, 2021

British Airways and Phillips 66 Sign Agreement for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply

British Airways signed a multi-year agreement with Phillips 66 Limited to use sustainable aviation fuel produced in the U.K.

The SAF will be produced at scale for the first time in the U.K. at the Phillips 66 Humber Refinery near Immingham and will be supplied to British Airways to power a number of its flights from early 2022.

The supply agreement between British Airways and Phillips 66 Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company Phillips 66, increases the commitments of both companies to a lower-carbon future. 

The airline, which is striving to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, will purchase enough sustainable fuel to reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by almost 100,000 tonnes, the equivalent of powering 700 net zero CO2 emissions flights between London and New York on its fuel-efficient Boeing 787 aircraft.

The SAF will be produced from sustainable waste feedstock at the Humber Refinery, which will deliver its SAF supply to British Airways via existing pipeline infrastructure that feeds directly into U.K. airports.

“This agreement marks another important step on our journey to net zero carbon emissions and forms part of our commitment as part of International Airlines Group to power 10% of flights with SAF by 2030,” said Sean Doyle, British Airways CEO said in a statement. “The UK has the resources and capabilities to be a global leader in the development of SAF and scaling up the production of SAF requires a truly collaborative approach between industry and government. We are excited to develop our relationship with Phillips 66 Limited further with a view to growing production capacity and using a wider range of sustainable waste feedstocks to supply our future flights. The development of sustainable aviation fuel is a major focus for us and forms part of our commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through a series of short-, medium- and long-term initiatives.”

The airline’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), is investing $400 million over the next 20 years into the development of SAF and British Airways has existing partnerships with a number of technology and fuel companies to develop SAF plants and purchase the fuel. SAF can reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by over 80% compared to the traditional jet fuel it replaces.

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