“We are committed to SAF as the most effective short-term solution to promote sustainability in the aviation sector, but it is currently an underdeveloped product and its price is high, between 3 and 6 times more expensive than conventional fuel, so its use will considerably increase airline costs,” says ALA president Javier Gándara on the association’s website.
Thus, Gándara demands the creation of “incentives for its [SAF] production as quickly as possible” to mitigate this increase in prices.
It is worth remembering that this year 2025 marks the beginning of the implementation of the Brussels mandate known as “ReFuelEU Aviation”, which establishes quotas for the use of SAF that vary between 2%, in 2025, and 70%, in 2050.
In this year 2025 alone, the total bill for the use of 2% SAF in Spain will be, according to ALA, just over 332 million euros, a value that will increase as the share of this sustainable fuel is progressively increased , especially when the use of synthetic SAF or eSAF, created from renewable energy, is introduced.
And according to calculations made by ALA, the additional cost to EU airlines in 2030, when the share of SAF increases to 6% and 1.2% of synthetic SAF is introduced, will amount to around 9, 5 billion euros.
“The government needs to support air transport in its ecological transition, as it is a difficult sector to decarbonize. This is why solutions that make this transition possible, including SAF, must be encouraged,” says Gándara.
Furthermore, the president of the ALA concludes that “the development of the SAF is an opportunity for the country that goes beyond the air transport sector, as it will favor reindustrialization, Spain's energy independence and, if done well, could make become a global exporting country”.