United Makes Aviation History with Sustainable Fuel Flight
Sustainable travel has been a growing trend, but several big-name brand travel companies have already started to adopt new practices to combat climate change. For the first time in aviation history, United flew an aircraft full of passengers using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Last week, United also announced the second round of corporate participants in the airline’s Eco-Skies Alliance program to collectively contribute towards the purchase of SAF.
Last Wednesday, Dec. 1, the demonstration flight departed with more than 100 passengers from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and landed at Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport. It was a new United 737 MAX 8 that uses 500 gallons of SAF in one engine and the same amount of conventional jet fuel in the other engine. It proves there are no operational differences between the two and it will set the stage for more scalable uses of SAF by all airlines in the future. Currently, airlines are only permitted to use a maximum of 50% SAF on board. The SAF used on last week’s flight is drop-in ready and compatible with existing aircraft fleets.
SAF has the potential to deliver the performance of petroleum-based jet fuel but with a fraction of its carbon footprint, and according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the country’s vast feedstock footprint resources are enough to meet the projected fuel demand of the entire U.S. aviation industry.
“United continues to lead from the front when it comes to climate change action,” said United CEO Scott Kirby, who will fly onboard today’s historic SAF flight. “This SAF flight is not only a significant milestone for efforts to decarbonize our industry, but when combined with the surge in commitments to produce and purchase alternative fuels, we’re demonstrating the scalable and impactful way companies can join together and play a role in addressing the biggest challenge of our lifetimes.”
United operated this unprecedented flight in partnership with Boeing, CFM International, Virent – a subsidiary of Marathon – whose technology enables 100% drop-in SAF, and World Energy – the world’s first and North America’s only commercial SAF producer.
United’s Eco-Skies Alliance program was launched in April 2021 and now has collectively contributed toward the purchase of more than 7 million gallons of SAF this year alone. With its nearly 80% greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions on a lifecycle basis compared to conventional jet fuel, this is enough SAF to eliminate approximately 66,000 metric tons of GHG emissions, or enough to fly passengers more than 460 million miles. Including today’s newly announced participants, the program has nearly 30 participants including companies like DHL Global Forwarding, HP Inc., and Nike.
SOURCE: United Airlines
