Aviation must become more sustainable as soon as possible. Eindhoven Airport is taking the necessary steps to achieve this. What steps is the airport taking and what challenges are involved?

The government and aviation industry's “Sustainable Aviation Agreement” states, among other things, that CO2 emissions from airport operations must reach zero by 2030 at the latest. This includes, for example, aircraft pushing, baggage handling and aircraft power supply.

Eindhoven Airport also wants emissions from air traffic departing from the Eindhoven airport to be reduced by 30 percent in 2030 compared to 2019. That is one of the goals the airport announced last year.

Fleet renewal

An increasing number of airlines are deploying the latest generation of aircraft. These are cleaner and quieter than previous generations because they are equipped with advanced engines that consume less fuel, among other things. By 2023, almost one in five aircraft at Eindhoven Airport will be of the latest generation.

The airport encourages the use of these aircraft by charging a lower port charge to airlines that use these aircraft at Eindhoven. But the airport is going further. From 2030 at the latest, only the latest generation of aircraft will be welcome there.

Sustainable fuel Besides fleet renewal, blending kerosene with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions from air traffic. The more blending with SAF, the less CO2 is emitted.

From 2025 onwards, a blending requirement of two percent applies in Europe (from 2030 it will be six percent). In order to achieve the goals of the “Agreement on Sustainable Aviation,” fourteen percent of all aviation fuel consumed in the Netherlands must be sustainable by 2030. By 2050, this will apply to all fuel. To achieve the goal of lower CO2 emissions in 2030, Eindhoven Airport is preparing a higher than the currently (legally) envisaged obligation to blend with SAF. Read more about the higher blending obligation with SAF at Eindhoven Airport here.

Due to high costs and low availability, airlines currently use limited sustainable fuels. This is why Eindhoven Airport wants to financially encourage airlines to blend more of their kerosene purchased at Eindhoven Airport with SAF. The airport makes an annual amount available to airlines as a contribution to the costs if they blend extra. For 2024, this is half a million euros.

Reducing CO2 emissions on apron To also minimize emissions from operations on Eindhoven Airport's apron, all diesel-powered equipment will be replaced by electric equipment by 2030. Meanwhile, more than half of the total vehicles, generators and aircraft stages are electric.

Equipment that is not yet electric will become so as soon as possible. Until then, this equipment (and equipment for which electric variants do not yet exist) will switch to the fuel HVO100 instead of diesel. HVO100 is biodiesel made from renewable and sustainable resources and emits less CO2 than normal diesel.

Sustainability challenges

Eindhoven Airport supports the goals of making aviation more sustainable, but also faces challenges in doing so. One example is the overloaded power grid in the Netherlands. This makes further electrification more and more difficult. Because of sustainability, the airport, like many other companies, needs more and more (green) power.

The airport is also going completely off gas. Eindhoven Airport generates its own green energy with nearly two thousand solar panels. But the energy generated with these is not enough to meet its needs. Eindhoven Airport is working with all stakeholders and the grid operator to find a solution.