AIR Airbus SE

By Mauro Orru

Airbus SE and Qantas Airways Ltd. agreed to invest in a biofuel refinery in Queensland, Australia, to turn agricultural by-products into sustainable aviation fuel, as airlines scale up efforts to cut emissions as demand for air travel rebounds after years of restrictions and border closures.

The European plane maker said Thursday that it would invest 2 million Australian dollars ($1.3 million) along with Qantas as part of an initial AUD6 million capital raising to conduct a feasibility study and early-stage project development.

The facility will harness alcohol-to-jet technology from sustainable aviation fuel technology company LanzaJet to produce up to 100 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel a year. Construction of the facility is slated to begin next year.

"This is one of several projects that we are looking to fund this year, all of which will help accelerate the development of a local SAF industry in Australia," said Andrew Parker, Qantas's Chief Sustainability Officer.

Airbus and Qantas last year committed to investing up to US$200 million to fast-track the development of a sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia.

Earlier this week, Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG committed to covering at least 5% of its fuel requirements with sustainable aviation fuel by the end of the decade, as part of its wider goal of halving its net CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, and achieve a neutral CO2 balance by the middle of the century.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2023 05:16 ET (09:16 GMT)

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