Spain’s Asociación de Líneas Aéreas calls for SAF incentives to offset cost of ReFuelEU aviation mandate

The Spanish airline group Asociación de Líneas Aéreas said Jan. 2 that airlines will pay an extra cost of 234.2 million euros this year for the use of 2 percent of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Spain after the EU SAF mandate went into effect Jan. 1.

ALA is calling for production incentives to scale up its development and reduce its price differential with respect to conventional kerosene.

“We are betting on SAF, as it is the most effective short-term solution to advance sustainability in the aviation sector,” said ALA President Javier Gándara.

“But at the moment, it is an underdeveloped product and its price is high—between three and six times more expensive than conventional fuel—so its use will increase the costs of airlines considerably,” he said.

“To cushion this increase, incentives must be established as soon as possible for its production,” Gándara asserted.

This year, the mandate coming from Brussels known as ReFuelEU aviation will begin to apply, which establishes SAF-use quotas ranging from 2 percent in 2025 to 70 percent in 2050.

This year alone, the total bill for the use of 2 percent SAF in Spain will be just over 332 million euros, according to ALA—an amount that will increase as the share of SAF progressively increases, especially once the use of synthetic SAF (eSAF) generated from renewable energy is introduced.

The additional cost that airlines in the EU will have to bear in 2030 when the SAF quota rises to 6 percent and 1.2 percent synthetic SAF is introduced will rise to around 9.5 billion euros, according to the association.

This additional cost will have to be added to the payments for the trading of the EU Emissions Trading System emissions rights, which will become more expensive from 2026 when free emissions rights disappear, in addition to the fact that the supply of rights will be progressively reduced, with demand putting pressure on their price.

“It is necessary for the administration to support air transport in its ecological transition, given that it is a sector that is difficult to decarbonize,” Gándara stressed.

“That is why solutions that enable this transition must be favored, including SAF,” he said.

“In addition, the development of SAF is an opportunity for the country that goes beyond the air sector, as it will favor reindustrialization, Spain’s energy independence and, if done well, it can become a global exporting country,” Gándara added. “This means supporting its production and doing so as soon as possible.”