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  • SAF

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

bta first travel has been offering the option to purchase Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in all branches across Switzerland since 2024. This gives you the opportunity to reduce your CO2 footprint from air travel even more directly.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is the overarching term for synthetic fuels produced without the use of fossil energy sources such as petroleum or natural gas. There are various production methods using different raw materials, such as the Sun-to-Liquid process, the Biomass-to-Liquid process, the HEFA process, or the Alcohol-to-Jet process.

In all processes, the goal is to reuse carbon dioxide from existing, sustainable biomass or gases and convert it into fuel (kerosene). Currently, the HEFA process is best suited for the commercial production of SAF. It involves hydrating fats from the food industry (used cooking oils, such as vegetable oil) and industrial waste, which are then refined in a similar way to fossil fuels.

SAF is currently used as a so-called "drop-in" fuel, blended in small amounts with fossil kerosene. However, over its entire life cycle, it has the potential to reduce the CO2e footprint by up to 80%.

Although the combustion of SAF and fossil kerosene produces identical amounts of CO2, SAF creates a CO2 cycle: biogenic residues, which previously absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere, are used in the production process.

Would you like to learn more about this? The Lufthansa Group offers you an <a href=."https://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/responsibility/climate-environment.html">overview and details on this topic

The cost of SAF varies depending on the production method and market conditions. Currently, SAF made from biogenic residues is on average three to five times more expensive than fossil kerosene. However, with increasing production scale and technological advancements, prices may decrease in the future. We aim to support this development with our SAF offering.

You can purchase Sustainable Aviation Fuel at all bta first branches. If you're interested, feel free to contact our Sales and Account Management team for more information.