Those who fly from Munich on vacation in the summer may feel a little less shame in flight. From June 1st, sustainable kerosene will also be used at the airport in the Bavarian capital. A new tank terminal will then be opened where aircraft can refuel with so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF for short).
This enables the airlines to reduce their CO₂ emissions, said Jost Lammers, CEO of Flughafen München GmbH in a press release. “Green fuels play a key role on the way to a complete decarbonization of air traffic.” Compared to conventional kerosene, the use of SAF could reduce CO₂ emissions by between 70 and 100 percent.
For delivery, storage and refueling, fuels are permitted that meet the quality specifications for Jet-A1 aviation fuel – just like the conventional kerosene used in civil aviation. The fuel is fed in as a SAF blend, i.e. as a mixture of conventional kerosene with green fuels. Currently, conventional aircraft can only run on SAF fuels to a certain extent. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus are already testing how passenger aircraft can also fly with 100 percent sustainable fuel.
Switching to e-fuels is climate-friendly and costly
At Munich Airport, SAF fuels will initially be used that are obtained from biomass – i.e. from renewable raw materials: so-called biomass-to-liquid fuels (BtL). In the future, synthetically produced kerosene should also be available for aircraft. These Power to Liquid (PtL) fuels are produced by electrolysis using water, carbon dioxide and renewable electricity. The federal government, the aviation industry and the mineral oil industry are relying on these e-fuels in their recently presented joint PtL roadmap: at least 200,000 tons of sustainable kerosene are to be used annually in German air traffic by 2030. However, as things stand today, PtL fuels are around five times more expensive than conventional kerosene. Their use could increase the prices of airline tickets.
The opening of the tank system is an important step for Munich Airport in order to achieve the environmental goals it has set itself. Operation of the airport should be climate-neutral by 2030 at the latest. Flughafen München GmbH is investing 150 million euros in this. In the long term, the airport’s CO₂ emissions are to be reduced even further. The goal: the complete reduction of all CO₂ emissions to net zero carbon by 2050 at the latest.
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