Committed to taking an active role in climate change mitigation and in the promotion of secure and sustainable energy sources, the European Commission's Directorate General for Mobility and Transport initiated the SWAFEA – Sustainable Way for Alternative Fuels and Energy for Aviation – study in February 2009 to investigate the feasibility and impacts of the use of alternative fuels in aviation. Alternatives to crude oil-based kerosene are seen as an important component in the efforts to reach the target set by the European Directive for Renewable Energy (RED, [1]) to introduce 10% of renewable energy in transport by 2020. It's also an important development with view to the introduction of aviation in the ETS from 2012 [2].The study was to develop a comparative analysis of different fuels and energy-carrier options for aviation on the basis of current knowledge, and to propose a possible vision and roadmap for their deployment in order to facilitate and support future policy decisions. The SWAFEA study, which delivered its findings and recommendations in April 2011 [3],1 encompassed all aspects of the possible introduction of alternative fuels in aviation using a highly multidisciplinary approach. This included technical, environmental, and economic assessments. The study was carried out under the leadership of the French Aerospace Research Lab ONERA, in cooperation with a consortium of twenty partners2 bringing together European research organisations and representatives of virtually every major stakeholder in the aviation fuel chain.