Korean Air to use aviation fuel with smaller carbon footprint on Paris route

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Friday it will use more environmentally friendly aviation fuel on its Incheon-Paris route as part of efforts to join global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

The move to use the so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for the route comes as Europe and the United States are leading efforts to build SAF production facilities and supply the fuel to cut greenhouse gas emissions from flights.

"The company has decided to adopt SAF on the Paris route to join global efforts to cut emissions and switch to environment friendly fuel despite higher costs," Korean Air said in a statement.

SAF is not made from fossil fuel but from waste products and environment-friendly materials. It can be blended with jet fuel to reduce carbon emissions, the statement said.

The fuel is two to five times more expensive than conventional fuel but it can reduce life cycle emissions by up to 80 percent. It only accounts for 0.1 percent of the global jet fuel due to lack of production facilities and supply chains, it added.

This will be the first time Korean Air has used SAF in flights since one instance on the Incheon-Chicago route in November 2017.

Korean Air signed a deal with an unidentified foreign firm on Feb. 1 for the supply of the fuel but when it will be delivered has yet to be decided, a company spokeswoman said.

Global efforts have been intensifying to expand the use of SAF in a bid to cause less damage to the environment from aviation that accounts for around 3 percent of the world's carbon emissions.

The French government recently pass a law to require local jet fuel suppliers to blend at least 1 percent of SAF with traditional jet fuel. (Yonhap)