Ram Mohan Naidu Leads India–France Talks on SAF and Clean Aviation Technologies

A Bilateral Push that Puts Sustainable Aviation at the Centre

India’s Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Tuesday held high-level discussions with France’s Minister Delegate for Transport on accelerating cooperation in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The discussions underscored a renewed bilateral effort to green air transport, advanced air mobility, and technology-based decarbonisation, strengthening aerospace relationships between the two nations. The discussions addressed policy congruity, industrial liaison, and the ways forward to scale SAF manufacturing and certification, with both parties intending to convert dialogue into project-based cooperation in the coming year.

Policy Alignment Aims To Give Airlines and Suppliers Certainty

The meeting occurs as India is developing a gradual roadmap of SAF blending and France is broadening its SAF requirement within the ReFuelEU Aviation plan under the EU. According to The Economic Times, the Indian policymakers are eager to use the experience of the Europeans in lifecycle accounting of emissions, diversification of their feedstock, and integration in their refineries. French officials, on their part, perceive India as a long-term demand centre that has scale advantages. Naidu emphasized that regulatory certainty, airport preparedness, and airline incentives were necessary to prevent the cost shock during the initial adoption.

Talks Widen to Urban Air Mobility and Clean Aviation Technologies

In addition to fuels, the ministers discussed cooperation in urban air mobility, electric and hybrid propulsion, and certification harmonisation. Aviation Week and Simple Flying suggest that the ecosystem of OEMs, engine manufacturers, and start-ups in France provides a strong platform for testing the budding eVTOL and regional air mobility ambitions in India. The topic of localisation of MRO, transfer of skills, and collaborative R&D was discussed in accordance with the global objectives of the Indian aerospace manufacturing and the French export-oriented industry strategy.

Industry Flags SAF Costs and Supply as Key Hurdles

The current CEO and Director of CAPA India, Kapil Kaul, presented a balanced opinion.

"The intent is strong, and France brings regulatory muscle. However, the bottleneck is still the SAF economics. The airlines will find it difficult to cover premiums without long-term offtake agreements and fiscal support. He appended certification harmonisation and guaranteed that the supply of feedstock would make the difference between cooperation transitioning MoUs to material impact."

The Airports and Airlines Prepare to Withstand the Transitions