CTM is the first TMC to introduce Sustainable Aviation Fuel scoring on its online booking tool. This is an industry-first, Corporate Travel Managementโs (CTMโs) proprietary online booking tool (OBT) – Lightning – to displays Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) scoring at the time of booking. This is a great help to organisations and business travellers who want to make more informed sustainable travel choices…
Lightning users globally will see SAF scores for all 250+ leading airlines when viewing flight search results alongside other critical flight information used to support appropriate choices such as price, in-policy status, seat availability and granular carbon emissions.
SAF scores were initially made available to a small pilot group of CTM customers in the UK and Europe at the beginning of 2024 and are now available for all customers free of charge in North America, Asia and rolling out to Australia and New Zealand markets throughout 2025.
It’s easy to know your Sustainable Aviation Fuel scoring
CTMโs Global Head of Sustainability Lauren Hook, explains: โWeโre excited to strengthen our partnership with RDC Aviation to deliver SAF scores for each flight option in Lightning for our customers. With corporate sustainability reporting mandates in play, businesses, governments and non-profit organisations are seeking ways to minimise the environmental impact of their corporate travel, and we are here to support those goals. Equipping our customers with the right information at the time of booking is key to achieving this.
“With the demand for SAF growing, the travel industry has a unique opportunity to drive meaningful change. By collaborating with airlines and advocating for increased use of SAF, we can play a part in incentivising investment in SAF to meet future demand.”
The addition of SAF scores further strengthens Lightningโs sustainability credentials, following on from winning the BTN Europe Sustainability Award for Corporate Booking Platform in 2023 and 2024 thanks to granular emissions displays, one-click comparison and switching from planes to trains, carbon budgets and other features that support businesses and their travellers achieve their sustainability goals.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel is available decades before other NetZero options
Virgin Atlantic marked history with its flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK onย November 28th 2023, was the world first to cross the Atlantic on 100% SAF by a commercial airline. Virgin’s Boeing 787, used Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines marking the culmination of a year of radical collaboration. This demonstrate the capability of SAF as a safe drop-in replacement for fossil derived jet fuel, compatible with todayโs engines, airframes and fuel infrastructure.
While other technologies such as electric and hydrogen remain decades away,ย SAF can be used now. Today, SAF represents less than 0.1% of global jet fuel volumes and fuel standards allow for just a 50% SAF blend in commercial jet engines. Scaling up the production of SAF requires political will and investment, and industry and government must move quickly to create a thriving UK SAF industry.
As well as proving the capabilities of SAF, the Flight100 helped to assess how its use affects the flightโs non-carbon emissions with the support of consortium partners ICF, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Imperial College London and University of Sheffield. The research is crucial in improving scientific understanding of the effects of SAF on contrails and particulates and help to implement contrail forecasts in the flight planning process. Data and research is shared with industry, and Virgin Atlantic will continue its involvement with contrail work through RMIโs Climate Impact Task Force, which is part-funded by Virgin Unite.
SAF has a significant role to play in the decarbonisation of long haul aviation, and pathway to Net Zero 2050. The fuel, made from waste products, delivers CO2 lifecycle emissions savings of up to 70%, whilst performing like the traditional jet fuel it replaces.
