Toulouse (France): US President Donald Trump’s shadow seemed to loom large at Airbus’ summit on sustainable aviation at Toulouse this week as prominent stakeholders gathered to discuss the progress and roadmap to decarbonise aviation by 2050.
What if America’s tariff warrior chooses to target the aviation sector, risking retaliation from Europe? The consensus was that it will damage the US more, but aerospace industry captains were circumspect. “We have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.
It was also the time for a reality check for Airbus’ ambitious hydrogen plane mission. Faury said his company can make a hydrogen-powered plane that works but it’s not the right time for it due to commercial non-viability and absence of the right ecosystem.
That leaves sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as the biggest hope to achieve the 2050 net-zero target and that’s where India held so much interest of the global aerospace industry at the Airbus Summit 2025, given its abundance of agricultural residues, ethanol, biomass, non-edible oil, municipal wastes, et al.
As against the global production of 2 million tonnes of SAF in 2024, India is estimated to have the potential to produce 8-10 million tonnes of SAF annually. Just think of how farmers in Punjab and Haryana, who have been burning stubbles and polluting the air, become stakeholders in SAF production.
“You can use this feedstock (for SAF) and also control pollution,” said Gabrielle Walker, co-founder of CUR8, a leading market-maker on carbon removals.
Jimmy Samartzis, CEO, LanzaJet, a sustainable aviation fuel producer and alternative fuels technology company, spoke about how there was high interest in building a self-production facility and how his company is working with India on this.
LanzaJet is reportedly negotiating with Indian Oil Corporation for a joint venture to build an SAF plant in India.
Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer at Airbus, said that what is happening in India and China in terms of sustainable fuel should not be underestimated.
“We are going from jet fuel to SAF. There is a unique opportunity for India to contribute to the growth of aviation and decarbonisation,” Faury told ThePrint. Airbus has been in touch with SAF stakeholders in India.
“We want to play catalyst to help grow the SAF ecosystem in volumes and also on manufacturers, regulators, airlines to pool the use of SAF. That’s a collaborative effort that needs to be done. India has a lot of potential for SAF and we are hoping that India will be showing the way and leading on the growth of SAF,” said Faury.
