By November, all aircraft delivered from Airbus' U.S. manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama, will come filled with a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blend. The airframer has struck a deal with Signature Flight Support to provide the SAF—a drop-in replacement for conventional jet-A that offers lifecycle carbon emissions savings—to its A220/A320 final assembly facility at Mobile Downtown Airport (KBFM).
“Delivering our Mobile-produced aircraft with SAF is an important, iterative step toward solving the carbon challenge,” said Jeff Knittel, Airbus Americas chairman and CEO, adding that the company is committed to making the fuel's use an everyday reality with increasingly greater production and adoption. “SAF is a positive contributor to enhanced sustainability in aviation since it enables up to an 80 percent reduction of CO2 across the fuel life cycle.”
The news follows a similar announcement by Airbus earlier this summer making SAF an option on aircraft deliveries from its Hamburg, Germany production site. Since 2016, the manufacturer's Mobile site has delivered more than 260 aircraft to U.S.-based customers, including 54 this year alone.
A Signature spokesman told AIN that while it has supplied SAF to Airbus at KBFM since 2018, the renewable fuel is not yet available for retail sales at the location.