S'pore forms company to buy green jet fuel

A company has been set up to buy and manage a supply of sustainable aviation fuel for Singapore’s air hub, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said on Oct 30.

- Vanessa Paige Chelvan

The Singapore Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company (SAFCo) will use a levy collected from passengers to buy the green jet fuel, which will be blended with traditional aviation fuel and used to refuel planes at Changi and Seletar airports. This comes about two weeks after Parliament passed a Bill allowing Singapore to collect a fixed levy on all departing flights to support the use of sustainable aviation fuel by airlines.

The target is for such fuel to constitute 1 per cent of all jet fuel used at Changi and Seletar airports in 2026, with the goal raised to 3 per cent to 5 per cent by 2030. Sustainable aviation fuel is mostly made from waste materials, such as used cooking oil. Travellers flying out of Singapore will pay a sustainable aviation fuel levy from 2026, which SAFCo will use to buy the fuel needed to meet the target.

CAAS wholly owns SAFCo, with the authority’s director-general Han Kok Juan chairing SAFCo’s board. Ms Tan Seow Hui, a veteran in the energy and aviation industries, has been appointed chief executive of SAFCo. She is the former global head of marketing and sustainability at Shell’s low-carbon solutions division.

Early CAAS estimates suggested that economy-class passengers may incur a $3 levy for short-haul flights, $6 for medium-haul flights and $16 for long-haul flights. Short-haul flights include routes to places such as Bangkok, medium haul to destinations like Tokyo, and long haul to cities such as London.

More details about the levy, including the confirmed amounts, will be announced by end-2025, CAAS said. The levy will be calculated based on the distance travelled and class of travel, with business and first class passengers paying more.