Air Canada and Airbus Commit €9.2 Million to Accelerate Canada’s SAF Industry

Air Canada and Airbus are stepping up efforts to decarbonize Canadian aviation with plans to establish a joint Sustainability Co-Investment Platform, backed by up to €9.2 million to accelerate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) innovation and production.

The platform will focus on advancing a jointly selected Canadian SAF project toward a Final Investment Decision, while supporting the development of the wider infrastructure needed to establish commercial-scale domestic SAF production. The companies say Canada has significant feedstock potential that could support a competitive SAF industry while creating new economic opportunities.

Air Canada and Airbus will work with federal and provincial governments to develop policy and market conditions that can unlock investment and enable SAF production at scale. Their collaboration with the Canadian Council for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (C-SAF) is intended to align private-sector investment with policies that improve the availability and affordability of renewable aviation fuels.

The initiative also aims to stimulate both SAF supply and demand, including through Air Canada’s Leave Less Travel Programme.

The partnership highlights a broader industry shift toward collaborative financing models, with airlines, aircraft manufacturers, governments, and other stakeholders working together to overcome the high capital requirements involved in scaling low-carbon aviation fuels.

For Canada, the platform could provide an important catalyst for building a domestic SAF ecosystem, strengthening the aviation sector’s long-term decarbonization pathway while supporting investment and economic growth.

Airline-OEM co-investment in SAF signals that aviation decarbonisation is finally moving from targets to real production infrastructure, and it changes SAF availability and pricing over the coming five years. Our energy-transition and supply-chain-and-operations teams help clients evaluate SAF-linked strategy, CORSIA compliance and long-term fuel procurement decisions.