EBAA and a coalition of business aircraft manufacturers, operators, airports, fuel producers, and service providers are urging the European Commission to adopt book-and-claim under ReFuelEU regulations to accelerate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) use. In a joint industry letter sent yesterday to key European Union commissioners and directors-general, they noted that the ReFuelEU mandate for fuel suppliers to provide physical supplies of SAF at major European airports may be unworkable.

“Introducing further flexibilities [such as book-and-claim] is of paramount importance to avoid structural imbalances and to reduce overall costs in the EU’s SAF market, while ensuring an efficient deployment of SAF across the EU,” the coalition wrote.

The joint letter highlights several key concerns affecting the SAF market in Europe, including that physical availability constraints will prevent many airports from having access to SAF in the short to medium term. This has been compounded by uncertainties around feedstocks that have delayed investment in new SAF production projects, as well as the higher cost of SAF (1.5 to 10 times higher than jet-A).

“To address these challenges, EBAA and its industry partners are calling for the [EC] to introduce a book-and-claim system—a mechanism that would allow SAF purchases and usage to be accounted for without requiring physical delivery to a specific airport,” the coalition said. “Book and claim would not impose additional costs on the EU or member states.”