In a first for Spain, Iberia Airport Services and Repsol have collaborated to carry out ground handling activities at Bilbao Airport using 100% renewable fuel. Both companies will use a sustainable fuel, treated at Petronor plant for all aircraft and customer service operations at the Spanish hub.

Ivan Grande, Director at Bilbao Airport commented on the collaboration, saying: “Aena supports this initiative in line with its role as promotor and facilitator of the sector in terms of decarbonisation of air transport. At Aena, we are working on multiple projects that completely revolutionise our energy consumption model. We believe in new fuels as the best tool to fight climate change. The development of new clean energy sources will be crucial for the sustainability of the aviation sector and transport in general.”

Repsol has manufactured and marketed sustainable fuels for more than two decades. Since 2019, it has incorporated organic waste in its manufacturing of the fuel. In 2025, the company plans to have production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of renewable fuels, reaching more than two million tonnes in 2030.

The collaboration at Bilbao will see Iberia Airport Services supply almost all of its handling teams with 5,000 litres of the renewable Repsol fuel. Equipment that will benefit from being refuelled with the sustainable fuel will include pushback trailers, tractors, platforms, conveyor belts and ladders. Airline customers including Vueling and Iberia will benefit from this sustainable initiative.

“This pioneering initiative reinforces Repsol’s commitment to renewable fuels, one of the main levers for becoming a net zero emissions company by 2050. Renewable fuels already reduce CO2 emissions from transport and are compatible with the current vehicle fleet and existing distribution and refuelling infrastructures, without the need to make any modifications. These fuels broaden the range of technologies to decarbonise the hugely important airport services sector,” said Carlos Suarez, Director of Mobility at Respol.

Suarez was joined by Jose Luis de Luna, Director of Iberia Airports who added: “We are committed to achieving the goal of net zero emissions in our airport services throughout the network by 2025. To do this, we are going to invest more than €100 million in some 30 initiatives, including the electrification of more than 80% of our equipment and the use of alternative energies, such as HVO, a fuel that allows us to reduce equipment emissions by 100%.”

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