American Airlines fuels on first commercial eSAF flight provided by Infinium

American Airlines operated the first commercial flight fuelled by electro sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF). The eSAF was produced and blended by Texas based producer Infinium from their Pathfinder facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Infinium’s Pathfinder facility has been operating since 2023.

The blended eSAF was delivered to the common jet fuel tanks at Corpus Christi International Airport. The fuel was then used to fuel a flight to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

“Since 2023, we have been producing scalable, drop in eDiesel and enaptha at our Pathfinder facility from waste carbon and renewable energy for use in commercial trucks and plastic processing,” said Robert Schuetzle, CEO, Infinium. “Adding eSAF to our product state – and seeing it power a commercial passenger flight – marks another meaningful step forward in bringing practical, low-carbon fuel solutions industry.”

American Airlines is working across the value chain to accelerate deployment of low-carbon aviation solutions. The airline has an offtake agreement for commercial volumes of eSAF from Infinium’s Project Roadrunner, supported in part by a separate agreement with Citi to enable Scope 3 emissions reductions from employee travel. These partnerships reinforce the collaboration needed to scale next-generation fuels.

“This flight represents a significant moment for aviation,” said Robert Isom, CEO, American Airlines. “Through our partnership with Infinium, we’re demonstrating how the next-generation technologies like eSAF can move from early investment to real world application.”

Project Roadrunner, financed by Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and Brookfield Asset Management, with nonrecourse project debt from HSBC, is currently under construction and expected to begin eSAF production and deliveries in 2027. Project Roadrunner is expected to produce over 5 million gallons of eSAF annually at capacity.

“This first-of-a-kind eSAF flight from American Airlines and Infinium is an important step for lower carbon aviation,” said Edward Skylar, head of Enterprise Services and Public Affairs, Citi. “Given the potential SAF has on reducing emissions, we look forward to efforts to scale its production.”