Benefits of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) offers an emissions reduction of up to 80% compared to traditional fuels, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
For LATAM Airlines Group, this new fuel is expected to be the tool that will contribute most to the sustainability of air transport in the future.
In addition, in July the group reached an agreement with Airbus and different airline groups to explore Direct Airborne Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) technologies, which is a method of capturing up to 90% of CO2 emissions from the air by storing them safely and permanently underground.
LATAM is the first airline group in Latin America to promote and explore these technologies, reinforcing its commitment to long-term sustainability.
In connection with its sustainability strategy and its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, in April LATAM announced that it will seek to incorporate sustainable aviation fuel into its operations, reaching 5% of total fuel consumption by 2030, and prioritizing production from South American suppliers.
Sustainable aviation fuel
LATAM is expanding its dedicated cargo fleet by converting a total of 10 B767 passenger aircraft to freighters by the end of 2023.
During the second quarter of 2022, against a backdrop of a strong commercial market and driven by the Mother’s Day flower season, the company’s cargo revenue increased 71.9% compared to 2019, with yields increasing 72.4% as industry capacity remains lower than in 2019.
The group’s dedicated cargo fleet increased its traffic levels (measured in RTKs) by 45.5% versus 2019, accompanied by a 2.9 percentage point improvement in load factor.
As of August 9, 2022, four converted freighters had been delivered, increasing the group’s dedicated freighter fleet to 15 freighters, with the third of these deliveries taking place during the second quarter and the fourth recently towards the end of July. The remaining converted freighters are expected to be delivered in 2023.
In addition, during the second quarter of 2022, the «Recycle Your Trip» program was implemented in the Peru subsidiary and continued its expansion in the Colombia subsidiary.
The program consists of sorting all recyclable items used in the onboard service for recycling and was already operational on domestic flights of the Chilean and Ecuadorian subsidiaries.
