Vietjet scales up use of green fuel as its Vietnam partner improves on blending technology

Business Times

9 hours ago

[HO CHI MINH CITY] Despite facing scrutiny in Singapore earlier this year over unsubstantiated substainability claims in its advertisements, Vietnam's leading budget carrier Vietjet Air is stepping up is push for greener aviation by using sustainable aviation fuel in a bigger way.
On Aug 15, the carrier signed an agreement to use 1,200 cubic metres of this fuel, blended in Vietnam and supplied by Petrolimex Aviation, the fuel subsidiary of Petrolimex, which is the country's state-owned national petroleum company and largest distributor of oil products.
The airline said in a recent statement that its fleet, with 576 modern aircraft on order, would increasingly incorporate this fuel, which it said can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 per cent, compared to conventional fossil jet fuel.
Petrolimex Aviation said in a separate statement that it is the first company in Vietnam to master the technology behind blending aviation fuel that meets international standards.
The partnership between Vietjet and Petrolimex Aviation builds on their cooperation in October 2024, when they operated the first two flights using this fuel.
The following month, the Vietnamese low-cost airline ran the 'Green Friday' promotional campaign in Singapore, touting its new-generation fleet that is significantly more economical with fuel, and also reduces emissions and noise. In its responses to media queries, the firm said the promotion reflected its adoption of the sustainable aviation fuel.
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The Green Friday campaign was, however, short-lived. In January, the campaign was pulled in Singapore after the city-state's advertising watchdog found the company's claims about its fleet's reduced fuel consumption and emissions misleading, and applicable only to certain combinations of aircraft and engine types.
It is not immediately clear how many Vietjet flights would be powered by the bumped-up volume of this greener fuel.
Data suggests that the Airbus A321neo, commonly used by Vietjet, would typically use about 5 cubic metres of fuel for a two-hour flight; 1,200 cu m of fuel could therefore power about 240 such short- to medium-haul flights.
Airbus said in its website that the model would be able to fly with a fuel tank filled to half with the sustainable fuel and the other half with conventional fuel. The target would be to achieve 100 per cent sustainable fuel capability by 2030.
As at the end of Q1, Vietjet was running a fleet of 99 Airbus aircraft, including seven A330s, 21 A320s and 71 A321s.
The green aviation fuel it uses is blended in Petroleum's Nha Be Oil Depot in Ho Chi Minh City, using imported synthetic blending components – hydrocarbons produced from biologically renewable feedstocks such as used cooking oil, agricultural by-products, wood biomass and urban waste.
Before Vietjet, national flag-carrier Vietnam Airlines flew a commercial flight from Singapore to Hanoi in May 2024 using sustainable fuel; that fuel was, however, produced and supplied by international partners.
In the first half of 2025, Vietjet reported consolidated revenue of about US$1.4 billion, up 5 per cent from a year ago. Its pre-tax profit was US$61 million, 65 per cent higher than in the year before.
Analysts from Vietcap, a brokerage firm, said that Vietjet achieved higher gross profit margin in Q2, at 13.5 per cent, on the back of strong passenger numbers, effective cost control and low jet fuel prices.
In the first six months of this year, Vietjet, including Vietjet Thailand, transported 17.7 million passengers and nearly 65,200 tonnes of cargo.
Vietnam welcomed nearly 10.7 million international arrivals during the period, a 21 per cent year-on-year increase; the figure was 26 per cent higher than that in 2019, pre-pandemic.
SAF production and adoption
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in June that the production of sustainable aviation fuel is expected to reach 2 million tonnes or 0.7 per cent of airlines' total fuel consumption in 2025.
Willie Walsh, IATA's director-general, said: 'Even that relatively small amount will add US$4.4 billion globally to the fuel bill. The pace of progress in ramping up production and gaining efficiencies to reduce costs must accelerate.'
Under the Singapore Sustainable Air Hub blueprint launched in February 2024, flights departing from Singapore will be required to use this sustainable fuel from 2026; 1 per cent of the total fuel used for such departures will be of the sustainable type, rising to 3 to 5 per cent by 2030.
Airports like Changi now offer fuelling with this greener fuel. Singapore Airlines and Scoot are already using the fuel produced by Neste, which runs the world's largest sustainable aviation fuel refinery in Singapore.
However, despite biofuels' clean energy profile and growing global demand, they cost more to produce and face competition from fossil fuels, said GlobalData in a report in May.
Processing advanced biomass sources, such as agricultural and forestry waste, remains expensive, limiting their scalability and widespread adoption.