Airlines will receive about €430mn ($496mn) in EU emissions trading system (ETS) allowance revenues to support their use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in their 2025 operations, the European Commission said this week.
The support comes in the form of 5.2mn EU ETS permits and will be split across 130 operators.
This is four times the amount distributed in 2024, covering most or all of the price gap between fossil fuel kerosene and SAF used by commercial aircraft operators on flights covered by the ETS.
The ETS applies to all intra-European Economic Area flights and flights departing the EU for Switzerland and the UK.
Overall, airlines claimed around 530,000t of SAF in 2025, which reduced CO2 emissions by around 1.7mn t over the year, according to the commission.
The commission proposed in its EU ETS review on 17 July to increase this support mechanism by 110mn allowances, which would amount to around €15bn in additional funding, it said.
