Published March 7, 2025

Planes at Cluj International Airport start using sustainable aviation fuel provided by OMV Petrom

With nearly 3.3 million passengers in 2024, Avram Iancu International Airport Cluj is the largest regional airport in Romania and the second largest in the country, when considering the number of passengers
Starting January 2025, planes can refuel with sustainable aviation fuel at Cluj International Airport

OMV Petrom, the largest integrated energy producer in Southeast Europe, supplies Cluj International Airport Avram Iancu with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in 2025, an important step towards reducing carbon emissions in air transportation. Through this partnership, Cluj International Airport and OMV Petrom reaffirm their commitment of supporting the energy transition and adopting of sustainable solutions in the aviation sector.

Starting January 2025, aircrafts taking off from Cluj airport, the second largest airport in Romania, are being fuelled with aviation fuel mixed with 2% SAF, thus reducing the environmental impact. Nearly 1,800 flights were operated in January and February using this fuel, covering all departures from the airport.

"We are proud to contribute to the introduction of sustainable aviation fuel at Cluj International Airport. SAF is produced from renewable raw materials such as vegetable oils and animal fats, transformed into fuels with properties similar to conventional kerosene using innovative technologies. At OMV Petrom, we have started construction works on a EUR 750 million investment so that, starting 2028, we can produce such fuels in Romania, at the Petrobrazi refinery. We believe in Romania's potential to become a regional hub for such fuels," said Radu Căprău, member of the OMV Petrom Executive Board responsible for Refining and Marketing.

„Together with our supplier OMV Petrom, we have managed to initiate the process by which the aircrafts operating flights at Cluj International Airport will be fueled with sustainable aviation fuels. This is another important goal we have achieved to fulfill our commitments to reduce carbon emissions and support less polluting air transport," said David Ciceo, General Manager of Cluj International Airport.

With nearly 3.3 million passengers in 2024, Avram Iancu Airport in Cluj is the largest regional airport in Romania and the second largest airport in the country, after Otopeni. As part of efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, in addition to supplying sustainable aviation fuel, the airport has also acquired two electric aircraft de-icing/anti-icing vehicles and an electric bus to ensure passengers’ transport from the terminal to the planes.

How sustainable fuels are produced

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are fuels produced by processing renewable raw materials, such as used oils and animal fats. Using advanced refining processes and green hydrogen, these materials are transformed to have characteristics similar to conventional kerosene. SAF can be dropped straight into existing infrastructure and aircraft. It has the potential to provide a lifecycle carbon reduction of up to 80% compared to the traditional jet fuel it replaces. SAF will play a really important role in meeting the aviation industry’s carbon reduction targets. The ReFuelEU Aviation regulation mandates the use of sustainable aviation fuels on European Union airports in a minimum proportion of 2% starting January 1, 2025, with a gradual increase in the use of SAF up to 6% by 2030.

About OMV Petrom

OMV Petrom is the largest integrated energy producer in Southeastern Europe, with an annual Group hydrocarbon production of approximately 40 million boe in 2024. The Group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tons annually and operates an 860 MW high-efficiency gas-fired power plant. The Group is present on the oil products retail market in Romania and neighbouring countries through approximately 780 filling stations under two brands – OMV and Petrom.

OMV Petrom is a company in which, as of end-2024, Romanian shareholders hold over 43% of the shares (of which the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Energy, holds 20.7%, and 22.5% are owned by pension funds in Romania, to which are added almost 500,000 individual investors and other Romanian entities). OMV Aktiengesellschaft, one of the largest listed industrial companies in Austria, holds a 51.2% stake in OMV Petrom, and the remaining 5.6% are held by other foreign investors. Of the total shares of OMV Petrom, 28.1% represents the free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. OMV Petrom is one of the largest contributors to the state budget, with around 44 billion euro in taxes and dividends paid between 2005 and 2024. During the same period, the company invested approximately 20 billion euro.

Since 2007, OMV Petrom has included corporate responsibility principles into its business strategy. Between 2007 and 2024, the company has allocated around 190 million euro to develop communities in Romania, focusing on environmental protection, education, health, and local development.

On July 29th, 2020, OMV Petrom announced its support for the recommendations issued by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) regarding risks and opportunities on climate change. OMV Petrom annually reports on the progress made in implementing these recommendations.

Avram Iancu Cluj international airport

Avram Iancu Cluj international airport is the country's leading regional airport in terms of passenger numbers, recording a traffic of 3,266,447 passengers in 2024. Cluj International Airport is the main air gateway to Transylvania and plays a significant role in the economic development of Cluj County and the entire region.

In June 2019, during the 29th Annual Congress of ACI EUROPE, Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport signed a commitment to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

At the end of 2021, Cluj Avram Iancu International Airport was designated for the first time for Romania, the best airport in Europe in the category under 5 million passengers per year, during the 17th edition of the annual ACI Europe Awards Gala, held in Geneva. The event took place on the occasion of the 31st Congress and General Assembly of the Airports Council International – Europe region (ACI EUROPE), which brought together leaders from the air transport industry from 55 countries. This prestigious award confirms the successful management of the activity during an unprecedented global crisis and, at the same time, completes the track record of the Cluj airport, appreciated at an international level.