Swiss national air carrier Swiss International Air Lines AG (SWISS), a Lufthansa Group member, has announced a new collaboration with compatriot power-to-liquids (PtL) developer Metafuels AG to jointly promote the development and scale-up of viable sustainable aviation (SAF) solutions. The collaboration should help SWISS secure long-term access to synthetic fuels and make further progress towards lower-emissions aviation, while investing in Switzerland as an innovation hub.
SWISS has been actively involved in the development of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Together with Lufthansa Group, the airline is taking a further step on this path and considering committing long-term to SAF procurement contracts, not least in view of the new synthetic fuel additive quotas that are scheduled to be adopted in Switzerland and throughout the European Union from 2030 onwards.
Metafuels has developed a process that efficiently converts green methanol into sustainable aviation fuel.
The new technology offers flexibility in the raw materials used – biomethanol or e-methanol – and is basically well scalable, too. The SAF produced can also be used in existing infrastructures and aircraft fleets.
Future availability of sustainable fuels at a sufficient scale will only be possible if investments in technologies and partnerships are made today. That is exactly what we are doing with Metafuels. We do not want to wait on the sidelines, but actively contribute to making the synthetic fuels market-ready and scalable. At the same time, this partnership helps secure long-term access to these solutions, said Jens Fehlinger, CEO of SWISS.
SAF is key to decarbonization
According to SWISS, SAF is a vital lever for achieving global decarbonization targets in the aviation sector, and synthetic fuels like those Metafuels is developing have particularly strong potential to make air travel a much lower-emission activity.
In teaming up with Metafuels, SWISS is both further underlining its commitment to sustainable aviation fuels and actively supporting Switzerland’s role and reputation as a research and innovation hub.
Scalable processes for synthetic aviation fuel
With its proprietary ‘aerobrew’ process, Metafuels has developed an innovative fuel manufacturing technology, which efficiently converts sustainable methanol, produced from renewable energy, water, and carbon dioxide, into an aviation fuel. Such synthetic SAFs are crucial to decarbonizing aviation.
Metafuels is presently establishing a demonstration SAF production plant at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. In parallel, the company is also developing its first commercial SAF production plant in Rotterdam.
This agreement with SWISS and the Lufthansa Group is both a milestone for us and a clear affirmation of the role that synthetic SAF will play in the future of aviation. It’s particularly significant, too, that we have secured SWISS, Switzerland’s national airline, as our first partner from the aviation sector, said Saurabh Kapoor, CEO of Metafuels.
A step towards securing future SAF supplies
The ramping up of synthetic aviation fuel production is still in its early phases. But the production capacities presently available and planned are unlikely to be sufficient to fully achieve today’s decarbonization goals.
An acceleration in the scaling-up of SAF production is also essential to the transformation of the aviation sector.
We are united with SWISS in our shared objective of paving a viable and scalable way to provide lower-emission air travel. With both rising demand projected and tighter regulatory provisions ahead, synthetic fuels will only gain in importance. And we’re convinced that Switzerland has a key role to play in all these developments, Saurabh Kapoor said.
Forging its new partnership with Metafuels, SWISS is taking a further major step in securing its own early access to synthetic SAF.
The move is part of the broader initiative by the Lufthansa Group to actively support the development and bringing to market of sustainable aviation fuels, via research partnerships, pilot projects, industry alliances, customer-oriented SAF offers, and more.
SWISS continues to take extensive action to minimize the carbon dioxide emissions from its flight operations.
Along with investing in advanced and fuel-efficient aircraft, the use of SAF is one of the prime levers for reducing such carbon emissions.
SWISS has been pursuing various targeted initiatives and collaborations for many years, together with the Lufthansa Group, further partners, and its customers to support and promote the development of sustainable fuels and the scaling-up of its production.
The fact that we are taking this step together with a Swiss company sends a strong signal to us. As an airline, we are doing everything within our power to actively drive the transformation of aviation forward. At the same time, it is clear that achieving our goals will now require industrial-scale production. Sustainable fuels must become available much faster, at affordable prices, and in significantly larger quantities in the future, concluded Jens Fehlinger.
