New Report: Pathways to Sustainable Aviation Fuel: A SAF Strategy Playbook For European Airlines
A decision-support tool for airline teams managing SAF cost exposure, compliance risk, and procurement strategy
European airlines now operate under two binding sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) mandates — ReFuelEU Aviation in the EU and the SAF Mandate in the UK — with different structures, different targets and different enforcement mechanisms. Any carrier with operations in both jurisdictions needs a compliance strategy for each.
While one can only guess how SAF markets will develop between now and 2035, airlines cannot wait for certainty before acting, decisions made in 2026 will determine cost exposure and supply access for the rest of the decade.
This report is a decision-support tool for airline teams navigating SAF cost exposure, compliance risk and procurement strategy with a primary focus on the second half of this decade to 2030.
We’ve prepared this analysis in partnership with the Sustainable Aviation Futures Congress, whose European edition will take place in Amsterdam from 15 to 17 June 2026.
This new report examines SAF from a practical airline perspective, focusing on the key decisions leadership teams need to make as mandates ramp up toward 2030. In particular, it looks at how airlines should approach:
SAF cost exposure and budgeting, including the full compliance cost stack, supplier fees, and route-level impact on ticket prices.
Dual regulatory frameworks, with different structures across ReFuelEU Aviation and the UK SAF Mandate requiring distinct compliance strategies.
Supply reality and the compliance gap, including limited SAF availability, feedstock concentration risk, and the implications for meeting 2030 targets.
eSAF readiness and procurement strategy, covering project maturity, hydrogen constraints, and how airlines should engage with offtake agreements and policy mechanisms today.