Alaska Airlines Takes Off With Sustainable Fuel

The aviation industry is often singled out as one of the major sources of carbon emissions. In order to mitigate its impact on the environment, individual airlines are looking for cleaner, sustainable fuels to get their planes off the ground.

Alaska Airlines is one of the companies trying out sustainable jet fuel. The company announced that starting tomorrow (November 9) it will fly 75 commercial passenger flights in the United States powered by biofuel. Two maiden biofuel-powered flights will leave Seattle on November 9 for Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon.

In conjunction with it sister carried, Horizon Air, the company will continue to operate select flights between Seattle and the two cities over the next few weeks using a 20 percent blend of sustainable biofuel made from used cooking oil that it said meets rigorous international safety and sustainability standards.

Alaska Airlines estimates that these experimental flights will save 134 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of taking 26 cars off the road for a year. If the company powered all of its flights with the same blend for a whole year it would equal to taking almost 64,000 cars off the road or provide electricity to 28,000 homes.

"This is a historic week for U.S. aviation. The 75 flights that Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air will fly over the next few weeks reflect our longstanding commitment to environmental responsibility and our belief that sustainable biofuels are key to aviation's future," Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer said.

The fuel was supplied by SkyNRG, an aviation biofuels broker, and made by Dynamic Fuels, a producer of next-generation renewable, synthetic fuels made from used cooking oil. Alaska Airlines said the fuel meets aviation and military safety, sustainability and performance standards.

The biofuel trial run is starting six months after Alaska Air Group partnered in a strategic initiative called Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest (SAFN), a 10-month regional stakeholder effort to explore the feasibility, challenges and opportunities for the aviation biofuel sector in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The study determined the region has the diverse stocks for biofuels, delivery infrastructure and political will needed to create a viable biofuels industry, but currently there is no supply of aviation biofuels in that region.

Alaska Airline is not alone in its support for biofuel. On Monday (November 7) United Airlines' Flight 1403 between Houston and Chicago was powered with Solazyme's algae biofuel, making it the first commercial flight powered with algae biofuel. Solajet, the trademark name of the fuel, is a 40/60 blend of algae-based fuel and petroleum-based traditional jet fuel.

Image credit: Alaska Airlines