Berlin/ Dubai: Dubai’s flag carrier Emirates announced Friday it has become the first international airline to join aireg—the Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany.
The airline pledged its membership earlier at ILA Berlin 2024 in an official signing ceremony, a move that underscores the airline’s commitment to the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The pledge will see the airline contribute to efforts to ramp up locally produced SAF in Germany, complementing several other SAF-related initiatives Emirates has launched in the past few months.
Germany is one of Emirates’ most important markets, and the airline has been part of German skies, cities and communities since 1987. aireg is committed to the increased production and use of regenerative aviation fuels in Germany.
Emirates and aireg signed the partnership in Berlin by Volker Greiner, Emirates Vice President North and Central Europe, and Siegfried Knecht, Chairman of the Executive Board of aireg. Dr. Anna Christmann, Federal Government Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy, joined them, the airline said in a statement.
Sir Tim Clark, Emirates’ President said, “Our industry requires large quantities of sustainable aviation fuel at a commercially viable cost, yet the shortage persists. Ramping up and furthering technologies for the production of SAF requires the partnership and support from multiple stakeholders, and we are confident that aireg will lead in this regard.”
With SAF, Emirates operates flights from Amsterdam, London Heathrow, Paris, Lyon, Oslo and Singapore.
Siegfried Knecht, Chairman of the Executive Board of aireg, said, “We need all hands on deck, airlines, airports, OEMs, producers, suppliers, RTOs, startups and of course politics to get us well on track towards net zero by 2050“.
Last year, the airline collaborated with Shell Aviation to supply SAF into Dubai Airport fuelling systems for the first time, allocating the SAF to several flights.
Emirates, the world’s largest A380 operator, returned to ILA Berlin for the 7th consecutive time.
