Viva Energy opens Australia's first airport fuel blending facility

The Snapshot: Sustainable aviation fuel made from used cooking oil is now available at Brisbane Airport, marking the first dedicated end-to-end SAF storage and blending facility directly connected to an Australian airport. For airlines and aviation businesses, this creates a practical pathway to lower-emissions jet fuel without waiting for hydrogen or electric aircraft to mature. The setup signals that renewable fuels, not electrification alone, will play a material role in decarbonising aviation over the medium term.

Brisbane Airport now has a dedicated pipeline to blend sustainable aviation fuel into standard jet supplies at Viva Energy's Pinkenba Terminal. The facility uses a refurbished 3.3 million litre storage tank, with systems to certify, track and account for the fuel's carbon benefits before it feeds into the airport's existing jet fuel infrastructure. Airlines using Brisbane and regional Queensland airports can purchase SAF blended into their regular fuel supplies, delivered to aircraft through standard airport equipment.

SAF is made from biogenic feedstocks, primarily used cooking oil in this case. The Pinkenba facility is the first in Australia with this integrated setup: dedicated storage, blending capability, carbon accounting, and direct connection to airport fuel systems. Viva Energy is also developing broader SAF capacity including an import facility in Victoria and processing capability at the Geelong refinery to replace some crude oil with biogenic feedstocks.

The project reflects a recognition that aviation faces hard limits with hydrogen and electrification in the near to medium term. Brisbane Airport Corporation's chief executive noted there is "only so much you can do" with those technologies, positioning renewable fuels as a necessary complement. For airlines, procurement teams and airport operators, this means SAF is now a tangible option for emissions reduction, not a future promise. Viva Energy has flagged that policy support could enable replacement of about a third of crude oil with biogenic feedstocks across its operations, a threshold that would require regulatory and carbon market settings to make the economics work at scale.

Analysis by EnergyDesk Australia, independent energy, fuel and carbon intelligence.

Source reference: original announcement

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