KLM and SkyNRG Begin Construction on Netherlands' First Dedicated SAF Plant

KLM and SkyNRG have marked the start of construction on the Netherlands' first facility fully dedicated to producing sustainable aviation fuel, located in Delfzijl and known as DSL-01. KLM has committed to purchasing at least 75,000 tonnes annually, representing 75 percent of the plant's total output, in a sustainability commitment the airline values at nearly €3 billion. The plant is expected to produce its first SAF volumes beginning in 2028.

 

Why the Lifecycle Emissions Figure Matters More Than the In-Flight Number

 

KLM's own release makes an important distinction worth taking seriously: SAF produces the same carbon dioxide emissions during flight as conventional fossil kerosene, since burning either fuel releases carbon in the combustion process itself. The emissions reduction instead comes from the fuel's total lifecycle, spanning production through combustion, which the airline states can reduce CO2 by at least 65 percent and up to more than 90 percent compared with conventional kerosene, depending on the feedstock and production pathway used.

That distinction matters because it clarifies exactly where SAF's climate benefit actually originates: not from cleaner combustion in the aircraft engine, but from how the fuel is produced in the first place, typically from waste oils, agricultural residues or other renewable feedstocks that carry a smaller carbon footprint during production than extracting and refining crude oil into conventional jet fuel. Understanding that distinction is relevant for assessing SAF's climate case accurately, since the technology does not reduce the direct emissions a passenger's flight releases into the atmosphere at the point of combustion, but rather displaces the higher-carbon production process behind the fuel supply chain.

 

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Why the 75% Offtake Commitment Functions as Direct Project Financing

 

KLM's chief executive Marjan Rintel described the airline's long-term offtake agreement as directly contributing to the financing and realisation of the facility, framing KLM as the first airline in the world whose purchase commitment enabled a SAF plant's construction in this way. That framing reflects a financing mechanism increasingly common across capital-intensive clean energy and fuel infrastructure, similar to the pattern seen in the Frontier Infrastructure BECCS deal and other project financing structures covered elsewhere in this batch: a buyer's long-term purchase commitment gives project developers the revenue certainty needed to secure construction financing, since lenders and investors want confirmed future revenue before committing capital to build expensive new production infrastructure.

Committing to purchase 75 percent of a facility's total output, rather than a smaller or more conditional volume, represents an unusually deep commitment for a single buyer, effectively making KLM's purchase decision the primary factor determining whether the plant could secure financing to be built at all, a role distinct from simply being a large future customer among several buyers.

 

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Why KLM's SkyNRG History Distinguishes This From a Typical SAF Deal

 

KLM co-founded SkyNRG in 2009, giving the airline a considerably longer and deeper relationship with this specific fuel producer than the more transactional SAF purchase agreements many airlines have signed more recently as SAF demand has accelerated. That founding relationship suggests KLM's involvement in this project reflects a strategic, long-term commitment to building SAF production capacity specifically, rather than a purely commercial fuel-purchasing decision made once SAF became a more mature and readily available product.

Rintel explicitly tied the airline's identity as both SkyNRG co-founder and its largest fuel purchaser to this milestone, positioning the Delfzijl facility as a culmination of a strategy the airline has pursued since SAF's earliest, least commercially proven stages, rather than a company entering the SAF market opportunistically once the technology and supply chains had already matured.

 

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What Comes Next

 

Whether DSL-01 successfully begins production on its targeted 2028 timeline, and whether the facility's output achieves lifecycle emissions reductions toward the higher end of the stated 65 to 90 percent range depending on the feedstocks ultimately used, will determine how much this project advances the aviation industry's broader decarbonisation efforts. As one of the earlier dedicated SAF production facilities in Europe backed by this scale of airline offtake commitment, its performance and delivery track record will likely be closely watched as a reference point for whether similar long-term offtake financing structures can be replicated to accelerate SAF production capacity elsewhere.

 

Source: KLM