Alaska Airlines will make its largest investment in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Following an agreement with biofuel producer Gevo, it will purchase 185 million gallons of SAF over five years beginning in 2026.
«Using sustainable aviation fuel is a significant part of Alaska’s five-part path to reach net zero carbon emissions», said Diana Birkett Rakow, company’s senior vice president of Public Affairs and Sustainability. She also added that implementing alternative fuels «is the most immediate path» towards decarbonization of aviation.
«»Making SAF commercially viable at scale requires strong partners and action on all fronts», said Ann Ardizzone, the airline’s vice president of supply chain. «We appreciate the partnership of suppliers like Gevo in tackling this challenge», she added.
Roadmap to 2040
In April 2021, Alaska Airlines announced its commitment and its five-pillar roadmap to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. While so far -and as much of the announcements by industry players in this regard- these are only declarations, meeting this target would be ten years ahead of what much of the industry committed to in the Paris Agreement.
According to the company’s statement, initiatives will include improving operational efficiency, renewal of the fleet, increased use of SAF, the acquisition of electric or hybrid aircraft in the long term and the implementation of emissions offsetting measures.
On the other hand, the Oneworld alliance, of which Alaska Airlines has been a member since 2021, declared an interim goal of achieving an utilization of 10% of SAF in all of its airlines’ operations by 2030. In September 2020, it made public its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, in line with other announcements by organizations, suppliers, operators and manufacturers.
See also: Boeing to open sustainable solutions research and development centre in Japan
