JetBlue and Shell Aviation announced a new partnership to bring greater supplies of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), with deliveries beginning in the first half of 2023. According to the terms of the arrangement, JetBlue will get 10,000,000 gallons of blended SAF at LAX over the next two years, with an option to acquire an additional 5,000,000 gallons in the third year, either at LAX or other airports in JetBlue’s network.
SAF is a type of renewable fuel that may be used in current aircraft and infrastructure without compromising safety or performance. SAF can be made from various renewable sources, including agricultural waste and leftover cooking oils, and can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared to traditional petroleum-based fuels.
Shell has stated that by 2030, it hopes to have 10% of its aircraft jet fuel sales as SAF. In addition, Shell is developing supply chain capabilities to blend, handle, and distribute SAF, allowing more customers access to SAF and accelerating the pace of decarbonisation in the aviation sector.
Supporting and expanding SAF availability is key to meeting bigger airline industry goals and JetBlue’s aim of reaching net zero by 2040, ten years ahead of industry targets. In addition to JetBlue’s other existing sustainability obligations, this will apply to the airline’s planned integration with Spirit Airlines. JetBlue will continue to do its bit to foster a diversified and competitive SAF market, the accumulation of available supply and the economies of scale required for SAF costs to compete with traditional fuel sources.
JetBlue and Shell will also collaborate to provide business customers additional opportunities to cut emissions while ensuring openness and responsibility. For example, organisations can directly manage their corporate travel emissions by purchasing JetBlue-issued SAF certificates through Avelia, one of the world’s first blockchain-powered digital SAF book-and-claim solutions for business travel. Avelia, developed by Shell and Accenture with the Energy Web Foundation’s (EWF) support, includes American Express Global Business Travel’s world-leading travel management services to aggregate global business demand for SAF, increasing SAF supply and accelerating the aviation industry’s path to net zero emissions.
The additional SAF supplied by Shell Aviation at LAX will increase the airline’s SAF supply at the airport, bringing SAF to about 15% of JetBlue’s total LAX jet fuel consumption. JetBlue also flies SAF out of San Francisco regularly and struck agreements with three other SAF producers for future supply in 2022, continuing to look at potential SAF partnerships with a particular focus on supporting SAF in the Northeast.
While JetBlue’s SAF successes in California are essential to the airline’s objective of converting 10% of its total fuel to SAF by 2030, the airline recognises that the great bulk of SAF delivered currently is to California airports as a result of the state’s low-carbon fuel programme. Therefore, further federal and state-level programmes to encourage the voluntary use of lower carbon fuels through incentives will likely improve the economics for SAF producers and airline purchasers to expand SAF usage to other airports.