‘Green kerosene’ to be available at Munich Airport from next month

Munich Airport will offer a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) option to its airlines from June 1 as it bids to further reduce its and aviation’s impact on the environment.

After what it calls a thorough technical testing process, the German gateway says that its new SAF fuel depot is ready for business and will start offering ‘green kerosene’ to airlines from next month. 

The airport notes that the new fuel depot is capable of receiving, storing and delivering SAF to aircraft provided it meets the relevant quality specifications for Jet-A1 aviation fuel.

The tank farm, which is supplied with fuel by various oil companies on behalf of the airlines, is therefore also permitted to receive deliveries of SAF blends such as conventional paraffin with an admixture of renewable fuels.

“By approving our refuelling facilities for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, we are enabling airlines to reduce their CO₂ emissions on flights from Munich by using sustainable aviation fuels,” enthuses Munich Airport CEO, Jost Lammers.

“Green fuels have a key role to play on the way to a complete decarbonisation of air transport. We expect the share of these sustainable fuels in total energy consumption in aviation to increase continuously in the coming years.”

Munich Airport is the owner of the entire tank infrastructure, which extends from the tank farm via a roughly 17-kilometre underground pipeline system to the aircraft parking positions.

Skytanking Munich GmbH & Co KG is the operator of the tank farm and ensures the quality control of the delivered fuels. Operationally, Skytanking is responsible for the fuelling of the aircraft, together with other providers of fuelling
services.

The SAF fuels used today are mostly produced from renewable raw materials, so-called Biomass to Liquid (BtL) fuels.

In the future, however, we will also see synthetically produced paraffin that will be available on the market, so-called Power to Liquid (PtL) fuels, which are produced by electrolysis using water, CO₂ and renewable electricity.

Albert Füracker, chair of the airport’s Supervisory Board and Bavaria’s Minister of Finance, says: “Bavaria’s aviation hub is sending a clear signal for sustainability and climate protection in air transport.

“I hope that many airlines will take advantage of the opportunity to refuel their aircraft with lower-emission fuel in Munich and thus contribute to climate-friendly mobility.”

The fuel from renewable energy sources is fed into the fuel depot at Munich Airport as an SAF blend that is already ready for refuelling. This blend of fossil paraffin and an admixed SAF content of around 35 per cent will then enable particularly lower-emission flight operations.  

Munich Airport is also pursuing an ambitious climate protection strategy in the operation of the airport and is consistently reducing CO₂ emissions with the aim of operating the airport in a CO₂ neutral manner by 2030 at the latest.

In order to achieve its climate targets, Munich Airport is investing a total of €150 million by 2030. However, Munich Airport’s long-term goal is to completely reduce all CO₂ emissions to Net zero carbon by 2050 at the latest.