Japan Airlines, Shell Aviation sign SAF purchase agreement

Japan Airlines (JAL) has signed an agreement with Shell Aviation which will see aircraft refueled in Los Angeles with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from 2025, supporting JAL’s ESG target of replacing 1 percent of its whole jet fuel amount with SAF in fiscal year 2025 set in its GX strategy. Under the agreement, Shell will supply JAL with SAF volumes equivalent to its current estimated jet fuel uplifts in Los Angeles over the supply period.

The SAF to be supplied emits 75 percent less CO2 than conventional jet fuel when used neat and the associated lifecycle emission reduction from this agreement amounts to more than 47,000 tons of CO2 on an annual basis.

On May 2, 2023, JAL announced its plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 (“JAL Group Medium-Term Management Plan Formulated the Rolling Plan 2023”) and has set a goal to reduce 10 percent of its CO2 emission compared to the 2019 level by fiscal year 2030. In line with these goals, as interim targets, JAL intends to replace 1 percent of its total jet fuel consumption with SAF in fiscal year 2025 and 10 percent in fiscal year 2030.

JAL Group will continue to accelerate SAF procurements globally, advance the stable mass-production, commercialization, diffusion and expansion of domestically produced SAF through ACT FOR SKY activities, and make efforts toward replacing 10 percent of its jet fuel consumption with SAF in 2030 in order to achieve net zero emission by 2050.