British Airways’ SAF projects win government funding

The prospect of greener air travel has received a boost thanks to £53 million of government funding.

Nine new projects were awarded in the latest funding round of the Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF).

The initiative is designed to aid development to convert waste materials into fuels.

“The investment demonstrates our confidence in the UK’s SAF industry – creating jobs, encouraging overseas investment and levelling up communities,” said Transport Secretary, Mark Harper.

British Airways is a recipient of £9 million funding for Project Speedbird – a joint partnership with Nova Pangaea Technologies and LanzaJet.

NPT, a cleantech company developing advanced biofuels for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), was awarded £7.5 million and LanzaJet, an ethanol to SAF tech firm will receive £1.5 million.

It follows investments from IAG and BA earlier this year into NPT and Project Speedbird, respectively.

IAG is also a founding investor and shareholder of LanzaJet.

The SAF will be developed from agricultural waste and wood residue feedstocks into second-generation biofuels such as ethanol.

LanzaJet’s technology then converts ethanol into SAF.

The NPT ethanol will be initially processed into SAF using LanzaJet’s Alcohol to Jet (ATJ) plant in Georgia, US.

Project Speedbird’s plans to build a ATJ facility in the UK by 2027.

British Airways aims to purchase all the SAF produced through Project Speedbird to help power flights.

Project Speedbird will produce 102 million litres of SAF per year.

It will produce SAF at full capacity by 2028.

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