Finland-headed oil refiner and renewable products major Neste Oyj and Air New Zealand have signed an agreement for the supply of 23,000 tonnes (30 million liters) of neat, i.e. unblended Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel. It is the airline's largest purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to date.
The SAF will be used by Air New Zealand at Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) international airports in California through February 2026.
The agreement follows earlier deliveries of Neste-produced SAF to Air New Zealand at LAX in 2024 and at Auckland Airport (AKL) in New Zealand in 2022.
This purchase represents 1.6 percent of Air New Zealand’s total fuel supply for our financial year 2025 meaning we will reach our SAF target for the year. It is still a very small proportion of our total fuel use but it is four times more than the volume of SAF we used in our financial year 2024, so I am very happy with the trajectory. Like all airlines, we urgently need to move away from our high reliance on fossil fuels as quickly as we can, and securing year-on-year higher volumes of SAF is critical, said Kiri Hannifin, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer at Air New Zealand.
The neat SAF will be blended with conventional jet fuel before use to meet the jet fuel specifications.
The fuel will be delivered to Air New Zealand via the fuel supply systems at both US airports using Neste’s existing fuel supply capabilities into these airports.
We are proud to support Air New Zealand’s efforts to increase their use of SAF to reduce aviation emissions. This supply of our Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel at Los Angeles and San Francisco airports is another great step in our cooperation, and we are looking forward to continuing working together with Air New Zealand to help them reach their climate goals, said Alexander Kueper, VP Renewable Aviation Business at Neste.
