Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, TUIfly and Virgin Blue join Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group

In Washington state, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, TUIfly and Virgin Blue announced that they will join the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, a grouping of airlines, environmental organizations, research projects and practices and principles that can help accelerate the commercialization and availability of sustainable biofuels.

Current airline members include Air France, Air New Zealand, ANA (All Nippon Airways), Cargolux, Gulf Air, Japan Airlines, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Boeing and Honeywell’s UOP, a refining technology developer, are associate members.

To be eligible for membership, group members must use jet fuel plant sources non-competitive with food and where biodiversity and water impacts are minimized; in addition, the cultivation of those plant sources should not jeopardize drinking water supplies. Total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions should be significantly reduced compared to fossil jet fuels. In developing economies, development projects should include provisions or outcomes that improve socio-economic conditions for small-scale farmers who rely on agriculture to feed them and their families and that do not require the involuntary displacement of local populations. High conservation value areas and native eco-systems should not be cleared and converted for jet fuel plant source development.

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