Air bp says SAF’s real challenge is scaling supply chains
Air bp is treating SAF as a logistics business, not a lab exercise. The bottlenecks are blending, certification and airport delivery, with global output still no more than 0.2% of aviation fuel since 2020.
On February 24, 2026, Air bp paired its SAF push with an Airbus agreement for aviation services and fuel supply in Europe. The company is casting sustainable aviation fuel as a supply-chain problem, not a proof-of-concept, with blending, certification, airport delivery and customer access doing the real work.
What has to happen before SAF reaches an aircraft
Air bp’s framing lines up with the way SAF is handled in the wider market. SAF must be blended with conventional jet fuel and then recertified to standard jet fuel specifications before use, which means the product only becomes usable after several steps between the producer and the wing. NREL’s September 2024 report on sustainable aviation fuel blending and logistics focused on jet fuel quality standards, blending practices and delivery options to airports, which is where much of the commercial friction sits.
That makes the supply chain the main product. A refinery or conversion plant can make SAF, but an airline still needs usable volumes at the right airport, in the right specification, with the right paperwork and the right commercial terms. Air bp’s message about accessibility is aimed at that gap, the point where the fuel exists but is not yet in the distribution channel airlines actually buy from.
A workable SAF chain now has to clear several steps:
- secure production and offtake
- move the fuel into a conventional jet-fuel stream
- recertify the blend to standard specifications
- store and transport it through airport infrastructure
- deliver it in volumes customers can actually lift
Each step can slow the next one.
The market is still tiny, even where the carbon case is clear
Center for Resource Solutions put SAF production at no more than 0.2% of global aviation fuel since 2020 in an August 2024 report. That is why airlines, producers and suppliers keep talking about scale-up rather than transition completed.
On September 6, 2021, RSB put lifecycle carbon emissions from SAF at around 80% lower than the traditional jet fuel it replaces. That is the core of the commercial pitch: a lower-carbon fuel that can fit into existing aircraft and airport operations once it is blended and certified.
The problem is not whether SAF works in flight. The problem is how to move from pilot volumes and press releases to repeatable deliveries in enough airports to matter. That is where cost premium, feedstock scarcity, infrastructure constraints and long-term commercial commitments come in.
Book-and-claim was an early answer to the delivery problem
One of the clearest signals that the industry was already wrestling with physical constraints came on November 16, 2021, when Microsoft and United Airlines, in partnership with RSB, Air bp and the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance, intended to pilot the world’s first book-and-claim system for SAF. The structure separates the environmental attribute from the physical fuel movement, which is useful when SAF cannot be delivered directly to every airport or every buyer on demand.
Book-and-claim is not a substitute for actual fuel logistics. It is a workaround for a market that still lacks broad, routine access to SAF molecules in the places and quantities customers want. In practical terms, it lets buyers support SAF volumes while the distribution network catches up. Air bp’s repeated emphasis on accessibility sits in that same lane, making the product easier to buy even when physical routing remains constrained.
That is also where incumbent fuel suppliers have an advantage. They already understand airport storage, hydrant systems, fuel quality control and day-to-day refuelling operations. The challenge is to adapt those networks to a lower-carbon product without breaking the commercial habits airlines already use to buy jet fuel.
Why a century-old fuel company is leaning on legacy networks
Air bp’s own history explains why it is trying to sit in the middle of this shift. Air bp was created in 1926 and started with 2,582 gallons of fuel in its first year. By 2026, the centenary allowed Air bp to present itself as an operator that has spent 100 years in aviation refuelling and aviation innovation.
SAF is not being built on a clean sheet. It is being inserted into a network that already includes airport storage, airline procurement, safety standards, blending rules and fuel-handling crews.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
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