Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center to develop SAF project

Photo: Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways signed multiple partnership and collaboration agreements with the aviation industry’s top manufacturers, suppliers and stakeholders at the 2021 Dubai Airshow. Among the deals signed include a joint development project between Etihad and the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) on waste-to-fuel initiatives as part of the nation’s targets to divert 75 percent of waste from landfills by 2025, and the sector’s compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation toward decarbonization through incorporation of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The project, according to Etihad, will explore the processing of commercial, industrial, and municipal solid waste to fuel, fulfilling the airline’s stance on development, production, and integration of a biofuel supply chain in the region. The two organizations had previously signed a memorandum of understanding to preliminarily investigate the undertaking.

This latest agreement with Tadweer demonstrates how significant SAF is for Etihad and provides the opportunity to cover 20 percent of its jet-fuel requirements by 2026.

Etihad operated its first biofuel flight in 2012. In 2020, the airline partnered with Boeing in the ecoDemonstrator program, using the highest permissible volume SAF on all test flights with more than 60 tons of emissions avoided on the delivery flight alone.

The new agreement with Tadweer further enforces the challenges currently faced on the satisfactory integration of SAF as a realistic and viable alternative to jet fuel.

For more information on the other agreements signed at the Dubai Airshow, click here.