Malpensa hosted a series of flights by DHL using a 20% SAF blend in 2022.
GENEVA—SEAPrime, which operates business aviation services at Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports under the Milano Prime brand, is to incentivize SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) uptake by paying customers €1,000 ($1,085) per ton of the fuel they buy at the airports.
Making the announcement at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE 2024) here, SEAPrime CEO Chiara Dorigotti said the idea had come from a forum the airport manager held with stakeholders, including operators and academics. The event showed them much educating around SAF remains to be done, and therefore there is a need to find an eye-catching concept to help get the positive messages across.
“There are lots of myths about SAF—it’s available, it’s not available, who produces it, where it’s produced,” she said. “I think there’s a bit of doubt, even among operators. We wanted to be very transparent that the product is there—there is no doubt that the product is there—and we’ve tried to highlight that. We’re trying to create the momentum which we think is necessary for the product to develop.”
SEAPrime’s Milan airports have been involved in raising the profile of SAF for some time. In December 2022, SEAPrime announced a program with DHL Express Italy and fuel provider Eni under which the latter’s Eni Biojet fuel was uploaded to 28 DHL flights in a 20% blend with Jet A1. Malpensa was the first airport in Italy to supply SAF through its pipeline.
“Given the product is there, and the demand, we think, is there, we wanted to contribute ourselves,” Dorigotti said. “We thought it was the best way, as an airport, to support the use of SAF, which we’ve seen is one of the things that we actually have today to reduce the carbon footprint.”
The offer will begin “in the second half of the year,” Dorigotti said. “And then we’ll see what the take-up is.” The scheme has a cap of €50,000.
SEAPrime also used EBACE to announce that it will soon submit planning applications to redevelop the terminal at Linate. The new facility “will basically double the size of the terminal,” Dorigotti said, adding that the redevelopment will “improve the customer experience by separating flows between passengers and operators.” The energy-efficient building will include rooftop solar panels, and the intention is to open it in time for Milano Cortina 2026, the Winter Olympics, scheduled for February of that year.
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