United Starts Its First Commercial Flight Service Using Sustainable Aviation Fuel

A Brief Summary

United Airlines, a US-based Airline company operated its first commercial flight on 100% sustainable fuel in one of the engines. The flight operated from Chicago's airport to Washington carrying 100 passengers. The engine of the aircraft has non-petroleum feedstocks.

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United became the first airline to fly a commercial flight using only sustainable aviation fuel.

The flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., the airline's new United 737 Max 8, carried more than 100 passengers on board. According to United, the flight used 500 gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in one engine and the same amount of traditional fuel in the other to demonstrate that there were no operational differences between the two.

At the moment, airlines are only allowed to use a maximum of 50% SAF on board. According to a report, United received clearance to use one engine with full SAF, resulting in a trip that produced 75% less carbon dioxide than a regular flight.

The SAF, according to United, is "drop-in ready," meaning it can be used alone, combined with standard aviation fuel, and with a variety of fleets. United CEO Scott Kirby says it will require $250 billion to ramp up SAF production enough to make similar flights routine.

The airline says that to its Eco-Skies Alliance program, it has added a second round of corporate participants for contributing to the purchase of SAF. United has bought 7 million gallons of SAF this year, a purchase of 1.5 billion gallons of SAF from Alder fuels and has an option to purchase 900 million gallons from Fulcrum BioEnergy.

The new stakeholders in the program include Microsoft, American family insurance and Visa.

United says, SAF can cut down greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, about 66,000 metric tons of the emissions.