From June 1, 2021, airlines can also refuel with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at Munich Airport. After a detailed technical examination, the tank farm at the airport is now being opened for climate-friendly fuels of the future

This means that sustainable fuels, so-called “Sustainable Aviation Fuels” (SAF), can now be delivered, stored and refueled at Munich Airport, provided they meet the relevant quality specifications for Jet-A1 aviation fuel. In the tank farm, which is supplied with fuel by various mineral oil companies on behalf of the airlines, deliveries of SAF blends, i.e. conventional kerosene with an admixture of green fuels, are also permitted. Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) is the owner of the entire tank infrastructure, which stretches from the tank farm through an underfloor pipeline system of around 17 kilometers to the aircraft parking positions. The operator of the tank terminal is Skytanking Munich GmbH & Co. KG, which ensures the quality control of the fuel supplied and, together with other providers of tank services, is operationally responsible for refueling the aircraft.

The SAF fuels used today are mostly obtained from biomass, i.e. from renewable raw materials, so-called “Biomass to Liquid (BtL)” fuels. In the future, however, synthetically produced kerosene will also be available on the market, so-called “Power to Liquid (PtL)” fuels that are produced by electrolysis using water, CO2 and renewable electricity. Even if the same amount of CO2 emissions are released when burning SAF as with fossil kerosene, the decisive improvement results in the production process itself: CO2 is required for production, which is almost completely converted into fuel in this process. This in turn means that the CO2 emissions from SAF can be reduced by around 70 to 100 percent compared to conventional kerosene, depending on the efficiency of the production systems.

“With the approval of our tank systems for Sustainable Aviation Fuel, we enable the airlines to reduce their CO2 emissions on flights from Munich by using sustainable fuels. Green fuels will play a key role in the process of fully decarbonising aviation. We assume that the share of these sustainable fuels in total energy consumption in aviation will increase continuously in the coming years, ”says Jost Lammers, CEO of Flughafen München GmbH.

The chairman of the supervisory board of FMG, Bavaria's finance minister Albert Füracker, also sees the opening of the tank systems for alternative fuels as a pioneering course: “Bavaria's air traffic hub is sending a clear signal for sustainability and climate protection in air traffic. I hope that many airlines will use the opportunity to refuel their aircraft in Munich with low-emission fuel and thus contribute to climate-friendly mobility. "

Airlines will be able to refuel their aircraft at Munich Airport with green kerosene from the beginning of June. The fuel from renewable energies is fed into the tank farm at Munich Airport as a ready-to-fill SAF blend. With this mixture of fossil kerosene and an added SAF share of around 35 percent, a particularly climate-friendly flight operation is then possible.