Boeing CEO: “SAF will never be as affordable as traditional fossil jet fuel”

Although sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will be scaled and become more economical to use, it will never be as cheap as Jet A fuel. By expressing this opinion in the Financial Times, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun tried to bring some realism to the discussion on how far SAF will be able to decarbonize aviation. His opinion, in short: SAF will help aviation to a certain extent, but it will have its price.

About SAF, Calhoun said: “It is more positive, and it will have an impact, but it’s going to be what it’s going to be”, and: “SAF will never be as affordable as traditional fossil jet fuels.” When airlines fly their planes SAF, passengers will have to pay higher fares. Aviation is not in a financial position to absorb that cost.

Calhoun was quoted in an article in which The Financial Times reported that the roll-out of zero-emissions planes powered with hydrogen would require $323.3bn of investment and a tax on traditional jet fuels.

According to OffshoreTechnology, both Boeing and Airbus have pledged to render all of their aircraft capable of handling 100% SAF by 2030. This is compared with 50% at present.