A KLM Cityhopper flight touched down in Hamburg, Germany, following a brief journey from Amsterdam. On paper, it looked like any other routine regional connection. In the fuel tanks, however, it was a completely different story.<\/p>\n
The passenger aircraft carried a five percent blend of synthetic kerosene, known as e-SAF. This marks the first time a passenger flight has entered Germany powered by the next-generation fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustainably produced aviation fuels will play an important role in decarbonizing aviation in the coming years. Our infrastructure is fully ready, and we actively support airlines in the use of locally produced blends, including through targeted incentives,\u201d said Christian Kunsch, Chairman of the Executive Board of Hamburg Airport.<\/p>\n
Aviation\u2019s green scale problem <\/p>\n
The synthetic sustainable aviation fuel<\/a> (e-SAF) was produced by Germany-based manufacturer INERATEC. Made by combining carbon dioxide, water, and renewable electricity, e-SAF can slash an aircraft\u2019s lifecycle emissions<\/a> by more than 90 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was blended with conventional fossil kerosene by MB Energy before being successfully pumped into the aircraft at Amsterdam\u2019s Schiphol Airport. The fuel is clean and safe, and it drops directly into standard jet engines without requiring any modifications to the plane or airport infrastructure.<\/p>\n It is a huge technical success, but a major warning about how hard it is to get the fuel. Aviation<\/a> is under immense pressure to decarbonize.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet, beneath the celebration lies an uncomfortable truth. Five years ago, KLM operated its very first pioneering e-SAF test flight to Madrid. For that journey, they managed to scrape together 500 liters of the synthetic fuel. For this flight to Hamburg? They could only secure 200 liters.<\/p>\n The numbers are moving backward.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s flight to Hamburg once again shows that flying on synthetic kerosene<\/a> is technically possible. But the reality is that the availability of e-SAF lags far behind ambition,\u201d said Marjan Rintel, CEO of KLM.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the technology works, the primary obstacle is scaling production to meet Europe\u2019s strict mandate of a 1.2% e-SAF fuel blend by 2030,<\/a> a target that current manufacturing falls drastically short of.\u00a0<\/p>\n This supply gap was highlighted by the complex, small-scale logistics required for this single flight, which relied on fuel produced by INERATEC in Frankfurt, blended by MB Energy, and flown out of Schiphol Airport.<\/p>\n High price<\/p>\n Why is it so hard to get? Money and red tape.<\/p>\n These two heavily restrict the mass adoption of synthetic kerosene, which remains more expensive than standard biofuel-based SAF and eight times pricier than conventional fossil fuels. <\/p>\n Furthermore, expanding supply is severely hindered by slow European environmental and construction permitting processes, making the development of large-scale production facilities a significant challenge.<\/p>\n Still, the partners behind the flight argue that the groundwork has to be laid now. Airport infrastructure is already fully capable of handling the fuel,<\/a> and clean-tech firms say they are ready to produce it if the economic incentives align<\/p>\n \u201cWe are ready to deliver. Today\u2019s flight, with our Chief Commercial Officer Maximilian Backhaus on board during a regular passenger service, clearly shows that power-to-liquid fuels are safe, available, and already operationally viable today. This is just the beginning of many applications we will see this year across various sectors,\u201d said<\/a> Tim Boeltken, Co-founder and CEO of INERATEC.\u00a0<\/p>\n Aviation has proven it can fly on clean air and electricity. Now, the industry just needs to find a way to make more than 200 liters of it at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A KLM Cityhopper flight touched down in Hamburg, Germany, following a brief journey from Amsterdam. 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