Our world is facing unprecedented environmental challenges. Keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5°C implies a mandatory drop in CO2 emissions. Against this backdrop, the EC has issued the European Green Deal: an ambitious plan towards a fully sustainable economy, including aviation. With one million species endangered, biodiversity restoration is another key issue. Once aviation has recovered from the COVID pandemic effects, global air traffic as a major enabler of connectivity and economic growth will resume and keep increasing. This emphasizes the challenge of reducing the environmental impact of the air transportation sector as a whole.

Today’s aviation community – from the airport and airlines to ground handling services – is facing the challenge of environmental transition. Guided by the ambitions of the European Green Deal in ensuring that transport (including air transport) makes an important contribution to climate neutrality by 2050, the EU-funded OLGA project is part of the bigger plan for aviation decarbonisation. The consortium, consisting of airports, airlines, ground handlers, industry, research bodies and SMEs, will integrate sustainable aviation fuels supply chains in conventional jet fuel infrastructure and demonstrate complementary types of low-emission mobilities, electric ground support equipment, hydrogen infrastructure and reduced carbon airside operations. OLGA expects to achieve significant quantified advances in the first 3 years.