Airbus SE and Qantas Airways Ltd plan to announce the first investment from a $200 million fund to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry in Australia within about a month, reports Reuters.
The companies established the fund last year after Qantas set a target of using 10% SAF in its fuel mix by 2030 and placed a multibillion-dollar order for Airbus narrowbody and widebody planes.
Sustainable aviation fuel investment
Australia lacks an SAF industry, meaning Qantas’ purchases of the fuel are made at overseas airports.
Stephen Forshaw, Airbus’ chief representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, said the manufacturer and Qantas were meeting weekly to discuss $1 million-plus investments in early stage SAF projects in Australia.
“The first investment has been made but not fully closed yet,” he said in an interview ahead of the Australia International Airshow, which begins on Tuesday. “We’ve both agreed to it, and I think we’ll make some announcements probably in the next month or so around the completion of that.”
Qantas declined to comment.
Forshaw said most of the investments being considered involved seed funding, where the partners might take a minority equity stake.
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Source: Reuters
