Air France increased its ticket prices to pay for its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as from January 10.
Vincent Etchebehere, VP Sustainability and New Mobilities at the airline, said since the beginning of 2022, French regulations had required it to incorporate an average of 1% SAF on flights departing from France.
In 2025, this will rise to 2%, and then to 5% in 2030 for all flights departing from Europe.
As a result, the airline is incorporating the cost of using SAF in all its tickets. It says the amount varies between €1 and €8 (R18,62 and R148,98) in economy and between €1,50 and €24 (R27,34 and R446,94) in business, depending on the distance, to help accelerate the adoption of SAF.
According to Business Traveller, Air France is aiming to incorporate at least 10% SAF worldwide in 2030 on its entire global network, well above the French and European mandates. Its emissions strategy is called ‘Air France Act – ACT’.
Etchebehere said: “We have set ourselves a target of a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre by 2030 (compared with 2019), translating into a 12% reduction in total CO2 emissions. The validation of this target by the independent reference body SBTi (Science Based Target initiative) on the basis of scientific criteria confirms that our decarbonisation trajectory is in line with the Paris Agreement’s objective of limiting global warming to less than +2°C.”
The airline has also started to replace older aircraft with new more fuel-efficient generation aircraft, which are expected to make up 45% of its fleet by 2025 and 70% by 2030, as well as eco-piloting, which uses piloting techniques to improve flight efficiency and so reduce fuel consumption without any impact on flight safety or punctuality.
