Australian flag carrier Qantas has teamed up with five of its major domestic corporate customers to contribute towards the cost of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for the airline’s flights departing from London Heathrow Airport (LHR).
The following major companies are founding members of Qantas’ SAF coalition program: state-owned Australia Post, Boston Consulting, KPMG Australia, Australian investment bank Macquarie Group and Australian independent Woodside Energy.
The airline said that members will pay a premium to reduce around 900 tons of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated from their staff flying each year by contributing to the incremental cost of SAF, rather than using traditional carbon offsets.
Members will pay for the incremental cost of up to 10 million liters of SAF sourced by Qantas at LHR, which is around 15% of the fuel consumed by the carrier on flights out of London.
From 2025, member contribution will rise to a further 20 million liters of SAF each year sourced from Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Qantas announced in December 2021 that it will purchase blended SAF for its flights out of London starting January 2022. The airline signed an agreement with its strategic partner bp to purchase 10 million liters of SAF in 2022 with an option to purchase up to another 10 million liters in 2023 and 2024 for flights from LHR.
The airline has committed to using 10% SAF in its overall fuel mix by 2030 and around 60% by 2050.