The production of alternative aviation fuel is expected to double in 2025 to reach 2 million metric tonnes, the International Air Transport Association announced this week at its annual general meeting in New Delhi.

IATA general director Willie Walsh described the uptick in production as ¡°encouraging¡± but warned the figure represents ¡°just 0.7 per cent of aviation's total fuel needs".

"And even that relatively small amount will add $4.4 billion globally to the fuel bill,¡± he added. ¡°The pace of progress in ramping up production and gaining efficiencies to reduce costs must accelerate."

Most alternative aviation fuels ¨C also referred to as ¡®sustainable¡¯ aviation fuel or SAF ¨C is "heading toward Europe," where fuel blending mandates across the EU and UK began on 1 January, 2025.

In addition, the cost of alternative fuels to airlines "has now doubled in Europe because of compliance fees that SAF producers or suppliers are charging," according to IATA, which estimated that compliance fees will add $1.7 billion on top of market prices ¨C "an amount that could have abated an additional 3.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions."

IATA also estimated that the average cost of?alternative aviation fuel in 2024 was 3.1 times that of jet fuel. In 2025, the global average cost for alternatives is expected to be 4.2 times that of jet fuel.?

Walsh added that "this highlights the problem with the implementation of mandates before there are sufficient market conditions and before safeguards are in place against unreasonable market practices that raise the cost of decarbonisation."

IATA urged redirecting a portion of the $1 trillion in subsidies that governments globally grant for fossil fuel to "eliminate the disadvantage that renewable energy producers face compared with big oil¡±. The association also advocated for an approach to energy policy that includes alternative aviation fuels.

In a separate update on Tuesday (3 June), IATA announced a partnership with Amadeus to integrate its CO2 Connect emissions calculator into the latter's travel management platform.?

IATA¡¯s CO2 Connect?is one of many methodologies designed to measure emissions from flights. It provides operational data, such as aircraft type-specific fuel consumption, rather than the modelled averages used by some other calculation methodologies.

"Our agreement with Amadeus will help fulfil traveller expectations for greater transparency as airlines progress towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050,¡± Walsh said.

IATA said its methodology, which currently uses data from 70 airlines, meets the ISO 14083 standard for quantifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. The standard is expected to become the basis for the EU¡¯s forthcoming CountEmissionsEU initiative.