Taiwan-based China Airlines is working with corporate customers to promote Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

A memorandum of understanding was recently signed by Senior Vice President Eddy Liu of China Airlines and Corporate Vice President Vincent Kao of Morrison Express Corporation. On October 8, flight CI5705 from Tokyo (Narita) to Taoyuan became the first freighter flight to use SAF in the Taiwanese airline industry, setting another new milestone for sustainability in air cargo for Taiwan.

The sharing of carbon reductions between China Airlines and clients will reduce both the direct carbon emissions from air transport and also effectively reduce the carbon footprint from transporting passengers and cargo. More importantly, contributing to the sustainability of the entire airline industry will help everyone work together to achieve the Net Zero carbon emissions goal by 2050.

China Airlines is the industry leader with regards to promoting the use of SAF, pioneering its use on ferry flights for new aircraft deliveries in 2017. The first Taiwanese passenger-carrying flight fueled by SAF was operated in 2023. This year China Airlines launched the SAF partnership program for upstream and downstream vendors as well as customers. The program aims to realize a sustainable supply chain by promoting energy transition and development of low-carbon transportation in the Taiwanese airline industry. Morrison Express, a leading global freight forwarder headquartered in Taiwan, became the first company to join the program and support the use of SAF by the China Airlines freighter fleet.

Morrison Express’s commitment to formulating a corporate sustainability roadmap that provides its customers with green logistics solutions is perfectly aligned with China Airlines’ ESG philosophy. The SAF used for the new partnership produces 80% less carbon emissions than conventional fuel, a percentage that should encourage even more companies to join the program and establish the foundations for ESG sustainability.

China Airlines is a longstanding promoter of sustainability. Many eco-friendly initiatives have already been implemented in cargo operations including: the introduction and promotion of e-Cargo services, the use of eco-friendly poly-sheets containing recycled materials for stacking pallets as well as the reuse of poly-sheets, apron operations are now computerized and stored electronically on PDA mobile devices to cut paper consumption and loading errors, and more eco-friendly electric tractors are also used for airside operations to effectively reduce waste and carbon emissions. China Airlines has previously won the Best Sustainable Innovation Cargo award during the SkyTeam’s The Sustainable Flight Challenge. In the future, the carrier will continue to examine and optimize carbon reduction targets and pathways in order to become one of the top sustainable enterprises in Taiwan.

The post First Taiwanese freighter flight uses SAF appeared first on Air Cargo Week.