Moeve supplies SAF to Norwegian on flights from Las Palmas airport to Nordic countries

A Norwegian airplane. (Photo: Moeve)

Moeve announced Feb. 3 that it and Norwegian have signed a contract to accelerate the decarbonization of air transport between Spain and the Nordic region by promoting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).  

As part of the contract, Norwegian used SAF supplied by Moeve for flights from Las Palmas airport in Spain’s Canary Islands to Nordic countries, primarily Norway and Sweden, as well as Denmark, during the months of November and December. 

Moeve produces SAF at its La Rábida Energy Park in Huelva, Spain, from used cooking oils.  

The company already supplies SAF to Spain’s major airports.  

Second-generation biofuels can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent throughout its entire lifecycle compared to traditional kerosene.  

“At Moeve, we agree with the widespread industry view that SAF is the only immediate solution for achieving more sustainable aviation,” said Álvaro Macarro, Moeve’s director of sustainable aviation. “We are proud to supply SAF on a permanent basis at Spain’s major airports, and this latest supply contract with Norwegian is a crucial step in reducing CO2 emissions across the industry.” 

Anders Fagernæs, vice president of sustainability at Norwegian, said, “SAF plays a vital role in reaching our target of 45 percent lower CO2 emissions by 2030. Las Palmas is one of our most popular destinations, and as such is a great location to further our work with SAF. We look forward to the collaboration with Moeve and working toward lowering emissions.” 

To ensure a supply of SAF to its clients, Moeve and its partners are building a new plant with a flexible production capacity of 500,000 metric tons of SAF and renewable diesel that will form part of the largest second-generation biofuels complex in southern Europe when it begins operation in 2026. 

With this project, the company is making further progress towards its goal of becoming the top producer of second-gen biofuels in Spain and Portugal, with an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons of biofuels by 2030, of which 800,000 tons will be from SAF, an amount sufficient for 2,000 flights around the planet. 

The agreement between Moeve and Norwegian is in line with the European Commission’s Fit for 55 package, which includes a legislative initiative called RefuelEU aviation that aims to boost the supply and demand of aviation biofuels in the European Union, reaching 2 percent use by 2025, 6 percent by 2030 and 70 percent by 2050.