Farnborough Airport has signed a deal with UK-based Hydrogen Refinery (H2R) to locally source 10,000 tonnes of hydrogen-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) per year.
In an online statement, the airport claimed it is already one of the “largest single-site suppliers of SAF to the business aviation community, having sold over 2 million litres of 38% blended SAF since 2021.”
Through the supply deal with H2R, Farnborough Airport will become the “first and only” airport in the world to offer fuel with a 20% blend across its entire supply by 2028, according to CEO, Simon Geere.
The CEO added, “The transition to new fuelling technologies like this requires markets like ours which are able to sustain the higher upfront investment costs necessary to make things happen.”
UK and European SAF mandates began taking effect at the start of 2025. Aircraft operators, EU airports and managing bodies must blend an increasing level of SAF with kerosene, starting this year.
Using its plasma electrolyser system (PES), H2R converts non-recyclable waste into syngas rich in naturally occurring hydrogen. This hydrogen plays a key role in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which transforms the gas into liquid hydrocarbons that are refined into drop-in SAF.
“This is not only a low-cost process but is also carbon negative because the waste is processed without the emissions from incineration or landfill,” claimed Stephen Voller, CEO at H2R.
Non-recyclable waste may be abundant, but its inconsistent composition can undermine syngas quality and SAF yield – an issue the IEA flagged as a key barrier to scaling in 2023.
On top of that, waste-to-fuel pathways remain early-stage and expensive, with IATA estimating costs at 2–5 times higher than fossil jet fuel.
