Companies, academies and NGOs have joined forces to promote the development of sustainable aviation not only from an institutional point of view, but also from an environmental, economic and social point of view. The Governing Council of this Alliance is made up of the entities ALA, Airbus, Aena, AESA, Air Europa, Air Nostrum, AOP, Binter, Boeing, CEOE, ECODES Ecology and Development, ENAIRE, Exolum, IATA, Iberia, SENASA, TEDAE, Transport and Environment, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and Vueling.
This Alliance has the desire to promote the route for the decarbonization of the aviation sector, favoring the identification and implementation of new technologies and innovative processes in a rational and orderly manner to guarantee the sustainability of the aviation sector in the long term. It is a collaboration mechanism made up of entities from different disciplines, beyond the aviation field, such as the business, academic and third sector sectors.
The objective is to provide a transversal response that contributes to advancing in this transition towards a more sustainable mode of transport to which the aviation sector is committed. In short, an Alliance open to adding more voices to help in this objective and counting on the Administration to achieve the necessary public-private collaboration to respond to this challenge.
Among the objectives of this Alliance are leading the decarbonisation of the sector, covering all possible solutions and technologies to achieve it and strengthening Spain’s industrial capacity to offer disruptive technologies, as well as other low-carbon alternatives and circular economy projects. Also encourage public-private collaboration to promote R+D+i and accelerate the development of low-carbon aircraft.
Favoring the large-scale production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in Spain is another of its objectives; in addition to promoting the development of initiatives that guarantee the circularity of the waste generated by the sector. In short, to make Spain a reference country in the development of new technologies in the aviation sector.
Javier Gándara, president of ALA, recalls that the regulations inherent to the Fit for 55 program “will force minimum SAF percentages”, specifically 2% in 2025 and 63% in 2050. The minimum demand is guaranteed, “but it is necessary to increase production and decrease the price differential”, which is achieved by “working all together” through the Alliance.
Gándara affirms that he does not want “flying to return to being a luxury within the reach of very few”, so the Alliance will work so that being sustainable does not affect the pockets of passengers. “The Alliance is born now because we have subscribed a sufficient number of associations, bringing together all the initiatives under its umbrella”, many of which are related to promoting the use of the SAF.
They are aware of the different types of SAF, emphasizing that there are “a series of raw materials in Spain” that may be suitable for the production of fuel, “especially in rural Spain.” Hydrogen can also be used to produce fuel, to which Gándara points out that “hydrogen within Spain has a lot of potential.” Exolum, an aviation fuel distributor that is also in the AST, can play in our favor.
«The oil companies should work on two vectors: hydrogen, which they are already doing; and ecofuels in general and hydrogen in particular, as far as aviation is concerned”, believes the president of ALA.
Gándara concludes by saying that within the working group of the Alliance they will have to assess whether the incentives for the use of the SAF will be more directed at the airlines or at the oil companies themselves, understanding that “each of the paths has advantages and disadvantages”, since “Problems are global and complex, as are their solutions.”
The signing event, which took place at the Airbus facilities in Getafe, was attended by the president of ALA, Javier Gándara; the president of Airbus Commercial Aviation in Spain, Ricardo Rojas; the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena; the general director of AESA, Montserrat Mestres; the CEO of Air Europa, Jesús Nuño de la Rosa; the president of Air Nostrum, Carlos Bertomeu; the president of AOP, Luis Travesedo; the president of Binter, Rodolfo Núñez; the vice president of Global Technology of Boeing Research & Technology, José Enrique Román; the president of the Tourism Council of the CEOE, Juan Cierco; the associate director of Just Transition and Global Alliances of ECODES, Mario Rodríguez; the general director of ENAIRE, Ángel Luis Arias; the CEO of Exolum, Jorge Lanza; the regional vice president of IATA, Rafael Schvartzman; the president of Iberia, Javier Sánchez-Prieto; the president of SENASA, Andrés Arranz; the president of TEDAE, Ricardo Marti Fluxá; the director of Transport and Environment (T&E) in Spain, Isabell Büschel; and the president of Vueling, Marco Sansavini, among others.
Javier Gándara has stressed that this Alliance responds to the commitment of the aviation sector with its progressive decarbonization, but points out that this transition must be balanced and rational to guarantee the environmental, economic and social sustainability of aviation. “This Alliance will allow us to find the best route for the transition of the aviation sector to which we are committed, through dialogue and collaboration, joining forces to guarantee the sustainability of aviation in the future from this triple perspective: environmental, economic and social” , has stated the head of ALA.
“At Airbus we have a clear purpose: to pioneer a sustainable aerospace sector for a safe and united world. This is the ambition that drives us in everything we do and develop. But it is clear that we cannot travel this path alone, it is necessary to join forces with those of the entire sector and the creation of the Alliance is a key milestone on this journey”, highlighted the president of Airbus commercial aircraft in Spain, Ricardo Rojas.
2023-04-17 16:21:12
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