Madrid, 17 April 2023 (AESA)

The main players in the business sector, academia and NGOs have today marked a historic milestone with the creation of the Alliance for the Sustainability of Air Transport in Spain (AST) to respond to the greater present and future challenge of aviation, sustainability. This union was born with the aim of promoting the development of sustainable aviation from an environmental, economic and social perspective.

The Alliance started today after the signing of its constitution by the Governing Council, formed by ALA, Airbus, Aena, AESA, Air Europa, Air Nostrum, AOP, Binter, Boeing, CEOE, ECODES Ecology and Development, ENAIRE, Exolum, IATA, Iberia, SENASA, TEDAE, Transport & Environment, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and Vueling.

The firm’s event, which took place at Airbus’ facilities in Getafe, was attended by ALA President Javier Gándara; the Chairman of Airbus Commercial Aviation in Spain, Ricardo Rojas; the Chairman and CEO of Aena, Maurici Lucena; EASA Director-General Montserrat Mestres; the CEO of Air Europa, Jesús Nuño de la Rosa; the Chairman of Air Nostrum, Carlos Bertomeu; AOP President Luis Travesedo; Binter President Rodolfo Núñez; Boeing Research & Technology Vice President of Global Technology, José Enrique Román; the Chairman of the Board of Tourism of the CEOE, Juan Cierco; the associate director of Just Transition and Global Alliances of ECODES, Mario Rodríguez; the Director-General of ENAIRE, Ángel Luis Arias; Exolum CEO Jorge Lanza; IATA Regional Vice President Rafael Schvartzman; Iberia President Javier Sánchez-Prieto; SENASA President Andrés Arranz; TEDAE President Ricardo Martí Fluxá; the Director of Transport & Environment (T&E) in Spain, Isabell Büschel; and the president and CEO of Vueling, Marco Sansavini, among others.

This Alliance aims to promote the route for the decarbonisation of the air sector by promoting the identification and implementation of new technologies and innovative processes in a rational and orderly manner to ensure the sustainability of the aviation sector in the long term.

It is a collaboration mechanism composed of entities from different disciplines, beyond the aviation field, such as the business, academic and third sector. The objective is to provide a cross-cutting response that contributes to moving forward in this transition towards a more sustainable mode of transport to which the aviation sector is committed. In short, an Alliance open to add more voices to help in this objective and to count on the Administration to achieve the necessary public-private collaboration to respond to this challenge.

Among the objectives of this Alliance are to lead the decarbonisation of the sector, covering all possible solutions and technologies to achieve this and enhancing Spain’s industrial capacity to offer disruptive technologies, as well as other low carbon alternatives and circular economy projects. Also encourage public private collaboration to promote R & D & I and accelerate the development of low-carbon aircraft. Promoting the large-scale production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) in Spain is another of its objectives; in addition to promoting the development of initiatives that guarantee the circularity of the waste generated by the sector. In short, make Spain a reference country in the development of new technologies in the aviation sector.

The president of ALA, Javier Gándara, stressed that this Alliance responds to the commitment of the air sector with its progressive decarbonisation, but points out that this transition must be balanced and rational to ensure the environmental, economic and social sustainability of aviation. “This Alliance will allow us to find the best route for the transition of the air sector with which we are committed, from dialogue and collaboration, joining forces to ensure the sustainability of aviation in the future from that triple perspective: environmental, economic and social”, said the head of ALA.

“At Airbus we have a clear purpose: to pioneer a sustainable aerospace sector for a secure and united world. This is the ambition that moves us in everything we do and develop. But it is clear that we cannot go this way alone, it is necessary to join forces with those of the entire sector and the creation of the Alliance is a key milestone in this journey,” said Ricardo Rojas, president of Airbus commercial aircraft in Spain.

The Alliance for the Sustainability of Air Transport (AST) consists of more than 900 companies or entities that generate more than 294,000 direct jobs and a turnover of more than 80.580 million euros.

Members of the Alliance: