European aviation CEOs said on Thursday their sector risks falling behind its global competitors as well as miss EU green fuel targets as supplies remain too pricey.

"We urgently need an EU aviation strategy in order to have SAF at competitive prices ... unless action is taken now the only realistic solution is to move the 2030 SAF mandate to the right," IAG CEO Luis Gallego told a conference in Brussels.

"Our market shares are going down not only to government-owned carriers in the east but also private competitors and some partners in the US. European aviation is falling behind," Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said, adding that the regulatory burden had tripled in the last decade.

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Julia Payne)