Brussels Airport offers SAF incentive up to €200,000 per airline

Brussels Airport, backed by the Belgian federal government, introduced a financial incentive offering airlines up to €200,000 to offset 80% of the additional cost of sustainable aviation fuel in 2024. The scheme illustrates government-backed SAF demand support, a policy model relevant as India develops its sustainable aviation fuel and aviation decarbonization roadmap.

Brussels Airport Company, with federal government support, introduced a financial incentive to promote sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) adoption, open to all airlines operating flights from the airport throughout 2024. The incentive applies to both passenger and cargo airlines on short-haul and long-haul departing flights, offering a maximum of €200,000 to offset up to 80% of the additional costs of using SAF. The measure responds to SAF's prohibitive cost, which had deterred uptake, a year after the airport marked its first SAF delivery through the NATO pipeline.

The incentive directly affects airlines, both passenger and cargo, operating short-haul and long-haul flights from Brussels Airport, lowering the cost barrier that had impeded SAF adoption. The Belgian government's endorsement signals state willingness to subsidize SAF demand to support the aviation sector's ambition to cut CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. The model is relevant to airports, airlines and aviation regulators globally seeking mechanisms to bridge the price gap between conventional jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel during early-stage market development.

Airlines and aviation policymakers should monitor the uptake and effectiveness of demand-side SAF subsidies in narrowing the cost premium that has limited adoption. Indian aviation stakeholders developing SAF policy can study the Brussels structure, a capped per-airline incentive covering a defined share of incremental cost, as a template for government-backed demand support. Stakeholders should note the 2024 program window and watch whether such incentives accelerate SAF volumes toward the sector's net-zero-by-2050 ambition.

Key figure — Maximum incentive: €200,000 per airline covering up to 80% of SAF cost premium