The Qantas Group, Airbus and the Queensland Government have come together to invest in a Queensland biofuel production facility being developed by Jet Zero Australia in partnership with LanzaJet. The facility will turn agricultural by-products, including from sugarcane, into jet fuel and is the first project funded under the Qantas and Airbus Australian Sustainable Aviation Fuel Partnership.
The Qantas Group and Airbus will jointly invest $1.34 millions of an initial US$4 million capital raising, with the Queensland Government contributing $500,700 and other Australian and International institutional funds providing additional funding.
The capital raised will be used to conduct a detailed feasibility study and early-stage project development.
Andrew Parker, Chief Sustainability Officer, Qantas Group said: “The early project funding was a first but significant step towards helping to build Australia’s domestic SAF industry, which will power flights around Australia. This investment will help kickstart an innovative project to turn agricultural by-products into sustainable aviation fuel and create a significant domestic biofuels refinery."
Construction of the North Queensland facility is expected to begin in 2024. The proposed facility will utilise LanzaJet’s world-leading alcohol-to-jet technology to produce up to 100 million litres of SAF per year.
The Qantas Group and Airbus have committed to investing up to $200 million to accelerate the establishment of a SAF industry in Australia.
Julie Kitcher, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Airbus said: “All Airbus aircraft are already capable of flying with a SAF blend of up to 50%. There is a growing positive momentum around SAF, and it is now time to move from commitments to concrete actions. The selection of the first investment under our joint partnership with Qantas is an example of such action, with the potential to deliver SAF locally in Australia and to be a model for other locations around the world."
The Qantas Group is currently purchasing SAF sourced overseas, including a volume of around 15% of its fuel use out of London in 2023, and from 2025, 20 million litres per year for flights out of San Francisco or Los Angeles.