SAF production: Air France-KLM will look for alliances in India

NEW DELHI, Sep 30: Air France-KLM will look for alliances in India with respect to production of sustainable aviation fuel as the group works on decarbonisation and will also increase the number of weekly flights connecting the country to meet rising passenger demand.

The group, which currently operates up to 42 weekly flights connecting four Indian cities, has also recorded a "double-digit revenue growth" from business and premium classes in the first six months of this year, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

At a briefing in the national capital, Air France-KLM General Manager for India & Middle East Stefan Gumuseli said the weekly frequencies will be increased from 42 to 54 in the upcoming winter schedule.

Air France and KLM will be operating 27 flights each during the winter schedule, which runs from the last Sunday of October to the last Saturday of March.

Currently, flights are operated from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru to Paris and Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, KLM's Senior Vice President for Impact and Innovation Zita Schellekens said India has a very huge role to play in decarbonisation and highlighted the importance of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

To a query from PTI on whether the group will be ready to make co-investments in SAF production facilities in India, she said it is looking with other parties to see if investments can be made in SAF projects, but stressed that "we hardly do any direct investments".

There can be offtakes provided the right demand is there, she added.

On whether Air France-KLM will look for alliances related to SAF production in India, Schellekens said "absolutely" and added it always looks for opportunities.

India is a strategic market for Air France-KLM, which is also seeing rising traffic demand.

Also, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has completed 70 years of flying between Delhi and Amsterdam. Air France-KLM's Country Manager for India Laure Daynie said the country is a strategic market and Delhi-Amsterdam remains an important route.

Meanwhile, a report, prepared by Boeing and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), on Tuesday said India is steadily advancing toward SAF adoption with an overall readiness score of 52 per cent.

For SAF, India has set blending targets of 1 per cent by 2027, 2 per cent by 2028 and 5 per cent by 2030.

"Under a 5 per cent blending scenario in 2030, SAF demand covering both domestic and international aviation is projected at approximately 720 million litres (about 0.6 million tons per year), compared with an estimated production potential of 14-33 million tons per year," the report said. (PTI)