United Airlines said it would use a blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on departing flights from San Francisco International Airport and was planning to the same later in 2023 at London Heathrow as part of the UK airport's SAF incentive programme.
The combination, United said, "could" put it "on track to use approximately 10 million gallons [of SAF] in 2023, nearly three times more than 2022 and close to 10 times more than 2019".
United said it has invested in the production of over five billion gallons of SAF, an amount it contends is more than any carrier, and will fly more SAF-powered miles in 2023 than any airline, in part due to its use of SAF blends at Los Angeles International Airport since 2016 and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam since 2022.
The SAF is to be produced by Neste and to be paid for in part through the company's Eco-Skies AllianceSM, which it described as "an innovative program[me] designed for participating companies to work together to share the "green premium" or the cost associated with purchasing lower emission fuels".
United said the alliance has 24 participants after Audi, Bank of America, Cisco, Corporate Travel Management, DB Schenker, First Eagle Investments, Macquarie Group and Thermo Fisher Scientific were added on May 4.