United Airlines Creates Aviation History

Recently United Airlines operated an unprecedented flight. For the first time in aviation history, a commercial carrier flew an aircraft full of passengers using 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

---

“United continues to lead from the front when it comes to climate change action and we are embracing a new goal to be 100 percent green by 2050, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 100 percent” - shares with TSCC Mr. Harvinder Singh, Country Manager - United Airlines India & United Airlines Business Services.

We are making significant investments to reach this goal and, importantly, to reach our goal without the use of traditional carbon offsets. Our industry collaborations are cutting-edge and part of the reason we were named 2021 Eco-Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine.

United is the world leader in the usage and support for the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), an alternative fuel made with non-petroleum feedstocks, already having agreements to purchase nearly twice as much SAF as the known agreements of all other global airlines combined. 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 resources are enough to meet the projected fuel demand of the entire U.S. aviation industry.

Harvinder Singh - Country Manager, United Airlines India

In April 2021, United launched the first-of-its-kind Eco-Skies Alliance, a group of global corporations contributing funds to purchase SAF to reduce their aviation- related impact on the environment. This Alliance has now collectively contributed toward the purchase of more than 7 million gallons of SAF this year alone. The programme now has nearly 30 participants including companies such as DHL Global Forwarding, HP Inc. and Nike.

In September 2021, United agreed to invest in and purchase 1.5 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Alder Fuels, representing the largest publicly announced SAF agreement in aviation history and enough to fly more than 57 million passengers. United is also an investor in Fulcrum BioEnergy, where United has an option to purchase up to 900 million gallons of additional SAF.

In December 2021, United operated an unprecedented flight. For the first time in aviation history, a commercial carrier flew an aircraft full of passengers using 100% SAF. This demonstration flight used 500 gallons of SAF in one engine and the same amount of conventional jet fuel in the other engine to further prove there are no operational differences between the two and to 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 United’s demonstration flight was drop-in ready and compatible with existing aircraft fleets. 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.

The Sikh Chamber of Commerce