Alaska Airlines and Shell Aviation partner to expand SAF market in the pacific northwest

Alaska Airlines has partnered with Shell Aviation to expand the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market in the pacific northwest, with Shell Aviation to supply up to 10m gallons of neat SAF to Alaska Airlines at its base in Los Angeles, California.

Diana Birkett Rakow, senior vice president, Public Affairs and Sustainability, Alaska Airlines said that SAF represents the greatest opportunity for the airline to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2040.

“That’s why we’ve pioneered SAF technologies for more than a decade,” said Rakow. “But we can’t scale the market alone. We’re excited to take this next step in the journey with Shell, to leverage their deep knowledge of the energy industry, its infrastructure requirements and supply chain to make lower lifecycle carbon SAF more widely available for the future.”

Whilst working to determine the carbon accounting systems and legislative support needed to grow the SAF market in the region, the two companies will focus on enabling supply to the west coast of the US.

“We need support from the entire ecosystem to build a sustainable future for aviation,” said Jan Toschka, president, Shell Aviation. “This deep level of collaboration will help us put the technologies and supply chain in place to advance the industry.”

Ann Ardizzone, vice president, Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Management, Alaska Airlines said that with Shell Aviation, Alaska Airlines aims to transform west coast fuel supply. “By leveraging the fuel infrastructure expertise of a major fuel producer, we can advance SAF access in more markets, accelerating the market scale of SAF to reach our environmental goals,” said Ardizzone.