Qair, an independent renewable energy company, and Airbus, a global leader in aerospace, announce today the signing of a memorandum of understanding to jointly structure the sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) sector in the French Occitanie region.

The partnership aims at identifying commercial opportunities and share techno-economic data to develop a sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF) production facility.

These interactions will enable Qair, a unifying force in the e-SAF value chain, to contribute to the deployment of a hydrogen infrastructure for aviation and the development of a true ecosystem for sustainable aviation fuels, especially in Occitanie.

The partners commit to collaborating on the development of an e-SAF production facility. The Occitanie Regional Energy and Climate Agency (AREC Occitanie) is also interested in this major industrial project for the region, and partnership discussions are underway.

Identified as one of the most promising options for decarbonizing the aerospace sector, hydrogen has the advantage of being used either directly for propulsion and onboard energy production or indirectly to create synthetic fuels.

In this protocol, Qair and Airbus will collaborate on developing a regional e-SAF ecosystem as a first step before expanding to nationwide projects for renewable hydrogen production and e-fuel. The collaboration covers various aspects of the hydrogen and e-SAF supply chain, from production to airport delivery.