Air France-KLM & Teesside International Airport Sign a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Agreement

Air France-KLM has announced that Teesside International Airport has become the first airport in the UK to join the Air France-KLM Corporate

Air France-KLM has announced that Teesside International Airport has become the first airport in the UK to join the Air France-KLM Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) programme making a further step towards reducing the CO2 footprint of air travel.

Air France and KLM are actively working on their ambitious road map towards decarbonisation. Next to fleet modernisation and more efficient operations, SAF is a major lever towards reducing the environmental impact of air travel. Air France and KLM have been involved for many years in research and development programmes in the field of alternative fuels and in 2011 were among the first to operate commercial flights with SAF, demonstrating that usage of non-fossil fuels is possible. However, currently, less than 1% of the fuel used on commercial flights comes from sustainable sources; this needs to change. The corporate SAF programme allows Air France-KLM to partner with organisations to accelerate the production and usage of SAF, and thus pave the way towards making SAF more readily available with the aim to contribute to a more sustainable future in aviation.

With this partnership, Teesside International Airport will actively support the transition from the use of conventional fossil fuel to Sustainable Aviation Fuel and contribute to addressing the global ecological challenge of the aviation industry.

Fahmi Mahjoub, General Manager of Air France-KLM (UK & Ireland) said:

“I am very excited to welcome Teesside International Airport as the first airport in the UK to join our SAF programme. This is a major step forward in addressing our sustainability challenge as an aviation company by partnering with a UK airport to help the environment. Today marks the start of a new level of cooperation across the industry and we hope that this news helps spread the awareness in the UK and that more companies will join us in making SAF more readily available around the globe.”

Teesside Airport’s Managing Director Phil Forster said:

“Partnering with the airlines that have long supported our airport to address the critical issues facing the industry is central to achieving these aims, that will benefit the world. We’re excited to be the UK’s first airport to sign up to this programme, setting out our stall as a leader in supporting emerging technologies in the sector.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us to decarbonise our airport from top to bottom, not just in its day-to-day operations but also in its flights – but with initiatives like this I’ve no doubt we can succeed.”

For more information on Air France and KLM Corporate Sustainability programme, please visit: https://afkl-safprogram.com/en/

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