Japan’s Centrair airport to prioritize SAF to boost passenger, airliner traffic

Chubu Centrair International Airport in central Japan will prioritize securing feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel and raising public awareness on SAF to increase its passenger and airliner traffic, Naoyuki Shigeno from Centrair said at a conference on carbon neutrality in Tokyo Feb. 24.

The availability of SAF at airports is becoming an important factor for both passengers and airlines when selecting airports, according to Shigeno. Centrair is working to restore the number of international passengers and airliners at the airport to pre-pandemic levels.

The number of international passengers at Centrair over April-December 2025 declined 22% from the same period in 2019, the year before the pandemic, Shigeno said. International aircraft landings and takeoffs at the airport over the same period decreased 23%.

Conversely, the number of international tourists visiting Japan over April-December 2025 rose 34.9% from the same period in 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

To support SAF production, Centrair is partnering with local governments to collect used cooking oil for processing at the Sakai plant in western Japan, operated by Cosmo Oil, the country's third-largest refiner. The airport is also working to build public awareness of SAF through media outreach across generations, according to Shigeno.

Centrair has signed agreements with over 11 local governments in Aichi, central Japan, where the airport is located. Centrair expects to secure about 130,000 liters of UCO in 2026.

In May 2025, a DHL Express cargo plane at Centrair was refueled with SAF made from UCO collected in Aichi, the country's first attempt to refuel a cargo plane with domestically produced SAF, according to Centrair.

Centrair aims to reduce carbon emissions from airport facilities by 46% from fiscal year 2013 levels by FY 2030, and to achieve zero carbon emissions by FY 2050, according to Shigeno.

Centrair was Japan's fifth-largest airport for international aircraft landings and international passengers in 2024, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed the average prices of gasoline, kerosene and gasoil at Yen 86,500/kiloliter, Yen 87,000/kl and Yen 70,800/kl, respectively, across the Chiba, Kanagawa, Chukyo and Hanshin regions Feb. 25.