Air France-KLM tries to transform fossil fuels into renewable fuels

According to Air France-KLM group’s homepage, the company explains how to make use of sustainable biofuels.

Air France-KLM Group prioritize the transition from fossil fuels to renewables in order to ensure the future of commercial aviation. This is because the use of biofuel will be able to can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional fuel, when the company uses it on a large scale. Air France-KLM explores and contributes to the entire value chain from research to commercialization to be an example for the rest of the industry,

The Group has shown that flying on biofuel can be available in terms of both safely and sustainably. This initiative can enhance the biofuel market, and to keep strict environmental, social and economic criteria at the same time. The French-Dutch company forms several partnerships with corporate clients as well as suppliers, airports and logistic companies. Thus, Air France-KLM takes stringent sustainability criteria into account:

  • Substantial reduction in CO2 emissions
  • Minimal impact on biodiversity
  • No competition with food production or the availability of food resources
  • Positive impact on the social development of local communities

Who is Air France-KLM Group?

Air France-KLM Group is a French-Dutch airline holding company. Its head office is located at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, near Paris. Air France-KLM Group’s main business areas are passenger transport, cargo transport and aeronautical maintenance.

Air France-KLM is the leading Group in terms of international traffic on departure from Europe. The aviation giant offers its customers access to a network more than 250 destination. It offers a fleet of 554 aircraft, and carried 104 million passengers in 2019 as well. Air France-KLM operates up to 2,300 daily flights, mainly from its hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

In addition, its Flying Blue loyalty program is one of the leaders in Europe with over 15 million members. Air France- KLM is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, which has 19 member airlines. The alliance enables customers to access to a global network of over 14,500 daily flights. Customers can reach more than 1,150 destinations in more than 175 countries thanks to the alliance.

How do airline companies create socio-economic value?

As we see the other article related to United Airlines, the pandemic makes the business of aviation industry difficult. We can imagine that the number of passengers in both international and domestic flights decreases tremendously due to the pandemic. In addition, each country sets travel restrictions so that airline companies should adapt this business environment.

In fact, the number of passengers became less than half of it compared to pre-pandemic level. Airline companies run a business where fixed cost is high. Therefore, the number of flights and passengers is critical to make it profitable. This is the issue in terms of economic value, on one hand. On the other hand, we have to consider how the industry will be more sustainable at the same time.

As we see Air France-KLM Group’s initiatives, the flights with fossil fuels becomes less attractive in terms of sustainability. Of course, we cannot reduce the number of flights with fossil fuels overnight. However, the companies including the French-Dutch company should take appropriate actions to build better society as well as to make the business more sustainable.

In this sense, biofuel will be the option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Adding to this, the aviation industry is one of the more stringent industries in terms of safety. Thus, we hope that other companies also take more initiatives since it takes time and needs lots of investment.

Flight – Adobe Stock