Aurélien Fleurot 7:25 am, January 11, 2022

While more and more airlines are switching to biofuels, Air France has decided to increase the price of its tickets by a few euros to compensate for its use.

This "sustainable aviation fuel contribution" will change depending on the level of reservation and the number of kilometers traveled.

For flights that emit less CO2, Air France announced Monday to increase its prices by a few euros.

Indeed, the aviation sector is in the midst of a revolution to find the means to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

For airlines, the shorter term solution is biofuels, which reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 75% but cost 4 to 8 more than kerosene.

Air France will therefore pass part of this cost on to the tickets.

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This will be the "sustainable aviation fuel contribution", the amount of which will change according to your reservation level and the number of kilometers traveled.

In detail, you will pay between 1 and 4 euros extra in economy class and up to 12 euros in business class.

The Air France-KLM group is the first to implement this type of increase.

Many companies are gradually switching to sustainable fuels, but since January 1, France has introduced the obligation to add 1% to kerosene.

Fuel, a quarter of airline spending

And this new regulation has a cost: for France alone, the incorporation of 2% of biofuels would represent 240 to 280 million euros per year, according to Ben Smith, CEO of the Air France - KLM group.

"The problem is that this fuel costs at least 4 times more expensive than kerosene", explains Arnaud Aymé, transport specialist at SIA Partners.

And this cost represents about 25% of airline expenses.

Without forgetting, specifies Arnaud Aymé, that there are "many constraints on the origin of materials: used cooking oils, agricultural forest residue".

Materials in limited quantities and therefore more expensive. 

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Towards a biofuel sector? 

A biofuel sector is emerging.

Oil companies like TotalEnergies, for example, invest in and transform refineries.

But the transformation will take time.

In France, the roadmap provides for 2% sustainable fuel in 2025 and 5% in 2030. In 2019, this represented 0.1% of the kerosene consumed in the world.