Alaska Airlines has launched a new programme to engage its corporate customers in greenhouse gas emissions reduction and offsetting through the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits and other initiatives aimed at reducing the environmental impact of aviation.
According to the company, the project will build on the corporate partnership programme it introduced in 2020 along with Microsoft to reduce emissions associated with business travel through the use of SAF. At the time, it was the first such initiative in the United States.
“Launching this program is another step toward our net zero goal and an important step to bringing SAF to scale”, said Diana Birkett Rakow, Senior VP of Public Affairs and Sustainability at Alaska Airlines. She said there are “multiple barriers” to overcome to make widespread use commercially viable.
She added: “Our goals with this program are to support our customers’ sustainability goals by providing SAF credits, to continue increasing awareness of the barriers and opportunities to advancing”. In addition, Microsoft, Boeing and Washington State University (WSU) are participating.
“We will need between 700 to 1.000 times increase in the amount of SAF if we are to meet the industry’s commitment to net zero by 2050”, said Sheila Remes, Boeing’s VP of Environmental Sustainability. She welcomed the manufacturer’s participation and commented that these kinds of ideas and partnerships are “critical to meeting that goal”.
The challenge of achieving large-scale use of sustainable aviation fuels
Currently, sustainable fuels account for less than 1% of total fuel use in aviation operations globally. However, industry players are working to increase their production, lower their price and incentivise their use on a large scale.
Through the programme, Alaska Airlines will seek to initiate efforts to improve accessibility to source materials, facilities, transportation and storage of sustainable fuels, as well as to reduce prices, improve infrastructure and encourage demand from operators and customers.
See also: Alaska Airlines to make its largest investment in SAF as of 2026
