United Airlines has announced that Aircastle (a Marubeni & Mizuho Leasing Company), Air New Zealand, Embraer, Google, HIS, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Safran Corporate Ventures, and Technip Energies are now among the 22 corporate partners that make up The United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund. The fund a first-of-its kind effort to reduce emissions and drive production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through investments in startups.
These corporate partners make up all parts of the aviation supply chain – airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, fuel producers, engineering and technology experts, financiers, travel management and more – and have now committed more than $200 million while collaborating to provide strategic expertise to help the Fund’s portfolio companies reach commercialization.
Since its inception in February 2023, the Fund remains aviation’s only venture-fund backed by a broad limited partner base and created to identify and support startups advancing feedstock and technology development focused on increasing the supply of SAF.
The airline has included a way for everyday consumers to participate as well. Anyone using United.com or the United app has an option to contribute to supplement United’s investment in the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund before check-out. Users have the choice to contribute $1, $3.50 or $7.00. Continuing in the effort toward climate transparency for our customers, United also now shows an estimated carbon emissions for flights booked through United.com or the United app. In less than 12 months, more than 115,000 people have contributed nearly $500,000 since February 2023.
SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel alone. To date, United has invested in the future production of over five billion gallons of SAF – the most of any airline in the world.
“SAF is the best tool we have to decarbonize airplanes, but we don’t have enough of it. To create the fuel supply we need for our fleet, United recognized that we would have to help build a brand-new industry from scratch – like wind and solar in previous decades,” said Andrew Chang, Managing Director of United Airlines Ventures. “As part of our effort to build a new sustainable aviation ecosystem, we recruited a group of partners with the industry expertise to support our startups with both financial and strategic capital, to help them navigate the entire process from conception to commercialisation.”
Sustainable Flight Fund Milestones
- Added 22 corporate partners
- Raised more than $200 million in committed capital
- Portfolio company milestones:
- Cemvita opens pilot plant in Houston
- OXCCU to start construction on pilot plant in UK
- Svante and Dimensional Energy begin utilization of CO2 captured at Lafarge Canada Cement Plant
- EH2 opens first manufacturing plant
UAV Sustainable Flight Fund
The UAV Sustainable Flight FundSM is a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle designed to leverage support from cross-industry businesses in order to support start-ups focused on decarbonizing air travel through SAF research, technology and production. The fund is comprised of more than $200 million in investment commitments from United and corporate partners including: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Aircastle (a Marubeni & Mizuho Leasing Company), American Express Global Business Travel, Aviation Capital Group, Boeing, Boston Consulting Group, Embraer, GE Aerospace, Google, Groupe ADP, Hawaiian Airlines, HIS, Honeywell, JetBlue Ventures, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Safran Corporate Ventures, and Technip Energies, among others. For more information about the fund, please visit the United Airlines Ventures website.
Consumer Awareness and Call to Action
The default option for customer contributions is set at $3.50 to illustrate the potential impact of customer action at scale: if the 152 million people who flew on United in 2022 each contributed just $3.50 to the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund, that would be enough to design and build a SAF refinery capable of producing as much as 40 million gallons of alternative fuel annually.
United’s Commitment to Net Zero Emissions by 2050
United aims to be net zero by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 100% by 2050, without relying on traditional carbon offsets.
About United
With U.S. hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., United operates the most comprehensive global route network among North American carriers and is now the largest airline in the world as measured by available seat miles.
