Commercial, Finance, Sourcing Renewables  -  February 14, 2024

United Adds Embraer, Google to Sustainable Flight Fund

United Airlines announced the 22 corporate partners that will make up The United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund.

The companies include Aircastle (a Marubeni & Mizuho Leasing Company), Air New Zealand, Embraer, Google, HIS, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Safran Corporate Ventures, and Technip Energies.

The fund is a first-of-its kind effort to reduce emissions and drive production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through investments in various startups.

The corporate partners come from various areas of the aviation supply chain – airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, fuel producers, engineering and technology experts, financiers, and travel management. They have committed over $200 million while collaborating to provide strategic expertise to help the fund's portfolio companies reach commercialization.

The fund was launched in February 2023 and remains aviation's first and only venture fund backed by a broad limited partner base that was created to identify and support startups advancing feedstock and technology development focused on increasing the supply of SAF.

SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that lowers GHG emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel. To date, United has invested in the future production of over five billion gallons of SAF.

"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, in a statement. "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 commercialization."

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