Cathay achieved another milestone year for its Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Programme in 2025, as more corporate and cargo customers join forces to decarbonise business travel and air cargo shipments. Building on the strong momentum since its launch in 2022, the programme saw another year of record growth, with SAF commitments more than doubling from 2024.
This growth was enabled by 17 global partners, whose commitment and leadership have helped keep the programme positioned as one of the leading initiatives of its kind globally. Together, the corporate partners have committed to using around 17,400 tonnes of SAF, representing an increase of nearly 180% compared with 2024. This is equivalent to a reduction of approximately 54,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions on a lifecycle basis — equal to the emissions of about 61,800 Economy class round-trip flights between Hong Kong and London.
Cathay was pleased to welcome Microsoft as a new partner to the programme in 2025, collaborating to address emissions from both air cargo and business travel. Kuehne + Nagel, a Diamond partner of the programme since 2024, remained the largest cargo contributor in 2025, while the partnership with DHL Express also enabled the first SAF uplift on flights operated by Air Hong Kong, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Cathay Group.
Several Diamond partners of the programme, including EQT, have entered into multi-year SAF commitments with Cathay, demonstrating a long-term commitment to scaling SAF and credibly reducing their climate impact from business travel and airfreight. DSV and Ernst & Young are also among the programme’s 2025 Diamond partners, contributing towards the adoption of SAF.
Growing commitments from partners in the Corporate SAF Programme enable Cathay to purchase additional SAF beyond mandatory requirements and its own voluntary usage, directly supporting the scaling of SAF. This expanded SAF usage is made possible through partnerships with leading suppliers around the world, working together to increase the availability of SAF certified to internationally recognised sustainability standards across Cathay’s global network. Key supplier partnerships in 2025 included China Aviation Oil Europe, Itochu, Neste, Shell Aviation, Sinopec and SK Energy, each contributing to the continued expansion of SAF usage by Cathay.
Cathay Group Chief Executive Officer Ronald Lam said, “Cathay has set ambitious sustainability goals, but like every airline, we cannot achieve them on our own. The growing collaboration between our corporate customers and SAF suppliers through the Corporate SAF Programme is a powerful example of how collaboration with like-minded, ambitious partners can help scale SAF adoption. We are incredibly grateful for the ongoing trust and long-term commitments shown by our partners.
“While the growth we saw in 2025 is encouraging, it is only one step in a much longer journey to decarbonisation. Supportive policies and well-designed market incentives will be essential if our industry is to scale SAF at the pace required to stay on track for its 2050 net-zero ambition.”
Beyond its Corporate SAF Programme, Cathay is helping to scale SAF supply through strategic investments and partnerships, including two joint investment initiatives announced in 2025 that focus on accelerating SAF production capacity and development of next-generation SAF technologies in Asia and beyond. These efforts complement Cathay’s ongoing partnership with stakeholders across the value chain to advance SAF adoption across Cathay’s global network.
In addition to the Corporate SAF Programme, Cathay is also working to enable individual travellers to take part in aviation decarbonisation. With the launch of the dedicated SAF contribution platform in 2025, Cathay Pacific became the first airline in Asia to introduce a membership-linked digital platform that encourages individual SAF contributions. Additional information about the platform can be found here.
