SAS now offers Travel Pass Biofuel, for corporate customers who regularly travel and want their flights to be fossil fuel free.

As a big believer in achieving positive change through sustainability, SAS has set a variety of ambitious short-term and long-term targets – one of which has been to have all its domestic flights within Scandinavia be powered with biofuel by 2030. It’s safe to say that the airline has been working hard towards sustainability, as it now offers a punch card known as Travel Pass Biofuel for all its corporate customers.

With the Travel Pass Biofuel, the corporate customers who regularly travel to the same destination with SAS  can get a discounted, prepaid punch card whereby 100% biobuel will always be included, to make the flight fossil fuel free. Vice President of Global Sales in SAS, Markus Ek, says:

“SAS has ambitious sustainability targets and is committed to increase the use of sustainable aviation fuels, such as biofuel, in our operations in order to lower the climate impact from traveling by air. We now welcome our customers on board the journey toward a more sustainable aviation by making it possible to buy Travel Pass Biofuel. This is perfect for customers who want to make their flying more sustainable.”

The older biofuel scheme

Before the Travel Pass Biofuel, SAS previously created a model whereby a purchase of 20-minute blocks of biofuel per flight can be made. In this model, the prices are set at 10 USD/10 EUR/100 SEK/100 NOK/70 DKK per block of biofuel.

The amount paid by the passenger goes directly towards the purpose of buying more biofuel for the airline’s flight operations, and passengers could choose to purchase biofuel at any time, any flight. And what’s more, EuroBonus members will be awarded 500 Extra points per 20-minute block of biofuel added to the flight booking.

For comparison on a 60-minute flight, one 20-minute block of biofuel will correspond to a third of the average fuel consumption per passenger of an average flight and this would result in a passenger having to purchase three blocks to cover the full flight time.

Inside the new scheme

However, this model had a downside as the amount of biofuel a passenger buys will not necessarily translate to being used on the actual flight the traveler has bought a ticket for as it would have only been used to replace fossil fuel to the equivalent amount in the airline’s flight operations as soon as possible.

With the introduction of the Travel Pass Biofuel, the model of a prepaid ticket means that corporate customers of SAS need not pay any additional charges for the use of biofuel. This is because the punch card will actually correspond to the full fuel usage of the flights to allow for 100% biofuel to be used and is also a discounted alternative when traveling often to just one sole destination.

Additionally, the punch card also applies to the Travel Pass prepaid ranging from 20, 40, 60, 100, and 200 punches – all valid within one year from the date of purchase – definitely an improved model for both Scandinavia’s  leading airline and its passengers.

Sourcing for biofuel

As one allowed example of sustainable aviation fuels, biofuel is said to dramatically reduce the climate-impacting CO2 emissions in the lifecycle by up to 80%, acting as the bridge towards airlines’ goals of zero-emission aviation. The type of biofuel used by SAS is known as Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) biofuel, which is basically a renewable diesel fuel that can be produced from a wide array of vegetable oils and fats.

According to SAS, the airline only uses certified biofuel made from sources that do not affect the general availability of crops used for food production, access to drinking water, biodiversity, or land usage. The biofuel is delivered to the airline at its main hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm, and even at suitable airports that are within a close enough distance to the production facility.

And although biofuel is much more expensive as opposed to traditional fossil fuels, SAS makes no profit at all from the contribution of the passengers as these contributions are just added to the amount of biofuel that the airline is already previously committed to purchasing. This is the airline’s way of making sped-up progress together with its passengers, towards better sustainability and to being a leader in sustainable aviation.