Qantas touts jobs in plea for domestic sustainable fuel industry

QANTAS Airways chief executive officer Alan Joyce said an Australian sustainable aviation fuel industry could support 15,000 jobs as he again made the case for government support for aviation’s only immediate path to decarbonisation.

Incentives are key to kickstart domestic production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Joyce said at a conference in Sydney on Thursday (Oct 27). Manufacturers need to see that making SAF, as it’s called, is a viable enterprise, he said.

“Policy settings are really, really important,” he said. “They’re there in California, they’re there in Europe. They’re producing it.”

Airlines are running out of time to scale up production of SAF, aviation’s best shot at reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. SAF currently accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of global jet fuel use, partly because there’s not enough of it and it can be several times more expensive than normal fuel.

Battery-powered aircraft don’t have sufficient range, while hydrogen-powered planes are years away and present fuel-distribution challenges, Joyce said. Australia’s vast land mass and feed stock could be put to use producing SAF, which can cut emissions by 80 per cent, he added.

A home-grown sustainable fuel industry would also offer energy security for military and commercial aircraft, he said. Qantas is having “really good discussions” with the new Labor government led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Joyce said.

SEE ALSO

Qantas sees first-half profit of up to A$1.3b on travel demand

DECODING ASIA

Navigate Asia in
a new global order

Get the insights delivered to your inbox.

Qantas and Airbus in June said they plan to invest as much as US$200 million to accelerate the adoption of SAF in Australia. BLOOMBERG