Stakeholders urge European Commission to improve SAF incentives

In the UK, Flight Global reported that aviation stakeholders have urged the European Commission to improve its SAF incentives in light of the measures included in the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA includes significant incentives and subsidies for SAF production in the US. Speaking during a panel session at the Airlines for Europe (A4E) Aviation Summit on 29 March, the chief executive of Topsoe, Roeland Baan, described the IRA as “the elephant in the room” when it comes to discussing the EU’s SAF polices. “There is absolutely no doubt that a year ago Europe was far ahead when it came to synthetic fuels, green fuels, technologies, etcetera compared to the rest of the world,” Baan says. “The IRA has changed that in one go.” “A the money flows to the US, with it goes all the other limited resources”, the executive said.  According to Baan, “the development of SAF in Europe has been put back by a decade”. “I’m not sure the Commission really understands what the moving parts are here,” he added. Meanwhile, the chief executive of Finnair, Topi Manner, said that many people in the airline industry see Europe as “quite heavy on regulation and relatively light on incentives” compared to the US position in the SAF market.

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