Press release
United to Become First in Aviation History to Fly Aircraft Full of Passengers Using 100% Sustainable Fuel
Game-changing flight - in partnership with Boeing, CFM International, Virent and World Energy - set to travel today from ORD to DCA with more than 100
About this update from United Airlines Holdings, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Game-changing flight - in partnership with Boeing, CFM International, Virent and World Energy - set to travel today from ORD to DCA with more than 100 passengers;\n Airline also announces new corporate participants joining the Eco-Skies Alliance, an effort to collectively purchase 7.1 million gallons of SAF this year including Microsoft, Salesforce and Visa\n United has already committed to purchasing nearly twice the size of the rest of the world's airlines' publicly announced SAF commitments combined\n\n\nCHICAGO, Dec. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- United today will operate an unprecedented flight that will serve as a turning point in the industry's effort to combat climate change: for the first time in aviation history, a commercial carrier will fly an aircraft full of passengers using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Also today, United announced the second round of corporate participants in the airline's Eco-Skies AllianceSM program to collectively contribute towards the purchase of SAF. \nUnited is the world leader in the usage and support for the development of 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. \n\"United continues to lead from the front when it comes to climate change action,\" said United CEO Scott Kirby, who will fly onboard today's historic SAF flight. \"Today's SAF flight is not only a significant milestone for efforts to decarbonize our industry, but when combined with the surge in commitments to produce and purchase alternative fuels, we're demonstrating the scalable and impactful way companies can join together and play a role in addressing the biggest challenge of our lifetimes.\"\nThe demonstration flight – which will depart today with more than 100 passengers from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and land at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport – will be on a new United 737 MAX 8 and use 500 gallons of SAF in one engine and the same amount of conventional jet fuel ...