Also, last June Long live Aerobus signed a purchase agreement with the company for 1 million liters of SAF, which it began to use on flights between Guadalajara and Los Angeles.
The commitment to the SAF is such that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that 65% of the reduction to zero emissions by 2050 will come from this fuelwith a demand that would climb to 449,000 million liters of SAF from the 8,000 million estimated for 2025.
Entering the aviation fuel segment in Mexico is not an easy task. With a broad domain of the parastatal Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (HANDLE) in the jet fuel market, airlines have few alternatives, mainly from the United States.
It is in this way that Neste has found a way to break through among Mexican airlines, with fuel mainly produced in California from where they see strong market potential.
“We are looking for opportunities to supply Mexico. we are going to expand”, says Thorsten Lange, executive vice president of renewable aviation at Neste, in an interview. “We are a relatively small company compared to others, we are not in a position to be in every airport, so we partner with local players.”
The company has managed to gain other clients such as the Dutch KLMthe German lufthansa and the Americans Delta Y American Airlines. In this, collaboration with airports has played a crucial role, as has been the case with Los Angeles and San Francisco airports.
Neste has found the conditions to produce and distribute its fuel in California as a result of a series of incentives that have turned the entity into a true oasis for SAF, whose production costs are two to four times higher than regular jet fuel. With the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard policy, a framework was developed that places a value on reducing carbon emissions through sustainable fuels, which included the SAF in 2019.
However, in the absence of similar incentives in Mexico, the company sees it as feasible to gain market share through alliances, such as the one it made with the US company Avfuel to supply the Viva Aerobus order.
“We are making an effort to enter the Mexican market, not directly like Neste, but through alliances. We can supply the product through vendors in Mexico, and then they can distribute it themselves. It doesn’t necessarily have to be us,” says the manager.
Lange was even open to an alliance with the federal government for this, which, despite the energy policy that has given little priority to renewable energies, has shown signs of entering this segment. The most recent proof of this was a program headed by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) for the production of sustainable fuel from seaweed.
“I would be happy if the public sector came to us, and said: ‘Let’s do something together.’ There are no talks yet, but little by little we will reach them”, concluded the manager.