Flying in and out of Singapore will cost slightly more this year as the city-state starts charging a levy to fund sustainable aviation fuel, which is designed to burn cleaner than conventional jet fuel, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. The move targets flights departing after Oct. 1 and tickets sold after April 1 from Changi International Airport, which handled a record 70 million passengers last year.
Under the plan, passengers will pay a surcharge based on the distance of their trips and the cabin class they book. For the lowest rate, economy passengers traveling within Southeast Asia will pay 1 Singapore dollar (about 75 U.S. cents). For premium cabin passengers on trips to the Americas, the levy will be as high as 41.60 Singapore dollars (about $32), the announcement said.
The levy is also meant to be shown transparently, with the payment displayed on tickets and air cargo contracts. For cargo, the levy will be based on distance traveled and the weight of the shipment, reflecting how aviation operators handle billing for freight.
Daniel Ng, the chief sustainability officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said the levy would let “all aviation users to do their part to contribute to sustainability at a cost which is manageable for the air hub,” according to the report. Singapore’s approach ties the additional cost of flying to an industry effort to widen access to sustainable aviation fuel without requiring changes to existing aircraft.
The underlying rationale is that sustainable aviation fuel can be produced from inputs such as used cooking oil or agricultural waste. The aviation industry has been encouraging its use as it tries to cut emissions that contribute to climate change while still using aircraft designed for today’s fuels.
Southeast Asia, the report said, is positioned to become a hub for global sustainable aviation fuel production as new facilities and related policies take shape across the region. It cited Singapore’s role as home to the region’s largest sustainable aviation fuel plant and said construction of a next-generation facility is set to begin this year, with agreements to supply major carriers including JetBlue and Singapore Airlines.
The report also pointed to other Southeast Asian countries’ progress. It said Thailand launched a new sustainable aviation fuel plant in Bangkok in 2025, while Malaysia and Vietnam delivered domestic production milestones in the prior year. Indonesia, along with other countries such as the Philippines, has announced or is pursuing plans to expand operations and reduce regulatory hurdles to attract developers.
Aether Fuels, the Chicago-based company building Singapore’s new plant, said the industry was still in an early stage but momentum is building. “We do sense the momentum is clearly building up,” said Tat Chuan Goh, “The industry is just getting started,” in comments carried by the report.
International and regional aviation bodies also described the scale of the challenge and the reliance on policy support. ASEAN, according to the report, estimated the region could produce 8.5 million barrels of sustainable aviation fuel per day by 2050. A senior air transport officer for ASEAN, Aung Soe Moe, said sustainable aviation fuel output could be supported if managed responsibly, while the International Air Transport Association’s Kelvin Lee said it was “natural that people are paying quite a bit of attention” to production in the region.
The report linked the push to current global policy shifts in the United States. It said aviation contributes about 2.5% of annual global carbon emissions, citing the International Energy Agency, and noted that aviation emissions are projected to grow faster than those from other transportation sectors. It also said the UN-backed International Civil Aviation Organization set a zero net carbon emissions goal for 2050 and has said sustainable aviation fuel could cut about 65% of the industry’s emissions, helping airlines meet mandates.
But the report said there are doubts about whether sustainable aviation fuel can scale quickly enough, in part because of reversals of clean-energy efforts under President Donald Trump. It said global sustainable aviation fuel production had been steadily growing—before these changes—and that the forecast is for growth to slow for the first time since large-scale production began in 2018.
Preeti Jain, who leads IATA’s net zero research, said U.S. rollbacks are “definitely a topic of discussion,” according to the report. She added that “the good thing is that those policy incentives have not totally evaporated,” though there is “some period of uncertainty,” as airlines and fuel producers try to plan for the next phase of demand.
The levy in Singapore reflects the same balancing act: creating financial support for a cleaner fuel supply while trying to keep the cost burden manageable for the hub’s users, the authority said. As Southeast Asia expands its own production capacity, the policy change is intended to help translate regional supply plans into practical fuel availability for airlines operating from Changi.