Airbus accelerates SAF adoption by piloting new Facilitator Account role within the RSB Book & Claim Registry
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Toulouse, 25 March 2025 – Airbus is making a significant move to scale the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by piloting a new Facilitator Account role within the RSB Book & Claim Registry. This initiative is designed to stimulate both supply and demand for SAF globally, offering a flexible, scalable solution that simplifies SAF transactions and accelerates market adoption.
The first MoU was signed by SMBC Aviation Capital, followed by Aercap, Comlux, Luxaviation, Novespace, Rive Private Investment and SAF Aerogroup, who confirmed their interest in joining this collaborative initiative, reinforcing the industry-wide intention to increase SAF adoption.
In simple terms, the book and claim approach allows a buyer to ‘book’ a certain amount of SAF and ‘claim’ the corresponding emission reduction, even if the fuel is used elsewhere. Through a pilot programme running throughout 2025, Airbus will leverage this system to improve SAF accessibility for potential customers, particularly those far from supply points.
With the new Facilitator Account in the RSB Registry, Airbus will manage SAF certificates on behalf of certificate holders, such as aircraft and helicopter operators. This role includes sourcing, overseeing transfers, retiring certificates, and handling documentation – all without directly owning the certificates. By acting as a trusted facilitator, Airbus streamlines administrative processes, ensuring efficient, transparent, and compliant SAF certificate transactions while maintaining full control and visibility for certificate owners.
This approach enables airlines and operators to benefit from SAF, including a reduction of CO2 emissions by 80% on average over the lifecycle, without requiring direct access to a SAF supply site. It is a practical way to make SAF more widely available and accelerate their adoption, with the Facilitator Account further enhancing flexibility and accessibility, making it easier for operators to participate in the SAF market and drive demand.
The joint pilot programme is expected to generate key insights into the capacity and robustness of this innovative book and claim mechanism. It will also assess market interest in third-party facilitation of such integrated SAF solutions. As part of this collaborative pilot, Airbus and RSB are testing the new Facilitator Account with partners to evaluate its effectiveness in streamlining SAF certificate transactions, improving accessibility, and driving market adoption.
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Julien Manhes, Airbus Head of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Carbon Dioxide Removals, says, “Supporting the SAF Book and Claim mechanism is an immediate solution contributing to the emergence and scale-up of the global SAF market. For a lot of smaller operators, getting access to SAF can be challenging depending on the amount of SAF needed. Through this initiative, Airbus can simplify and derisk the process for operators and SAF suppliers, by financially securing SAF certificates upfront and sharing them back at no extra cost. This is also a great opportunity to demonstrate Book and Claim is reliable and that its usage should be extended in voluntary and regulatory markets.”
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“RSB is proud to be at the forefront of a credible, transparent, and fair transition to sustainable aviation fuel,” says RSB’s Executive Director, Elena Schmidt, “Our collaboration with Airbus on the Facilitator Account expands access to SAF markets – especially for operators ready to lead on adoption but facing practical barriers. Now open to any organisation, this mechanism helps scale SAF efficiently while upholding RSB’s high standards, independent auditing and oversight. Through open collaboration and our multi-stakeholder governance, we’re ensuring SAF adoption is accelerated with integrity and real impact.”
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Read the original Airbus press release here.
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