Alaska estimates that the fuel blend used on the June 7 Seattle to San Francisco and Seattle to Washington flights reduced carbon dioxide emissions by some 50%. The alcohol-to-jet (or ATJ) fuel was provided by Englewood, Colorado-based Gevo, which is a renewable technology, chemical products and next-generation biofuel company.
These flights were, in fact, the first scheduled commercial flights to use ATJ fuel, according to Alaska. “The renewable fuel is made from sustainable corn grown and harvested by farmers who incorporate sustainable best practices from seed to harvest,” an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said in a statement, citing that the Gevo-produced fuel had the potential to be both scalable and cost-effective.
Whilst the June 7 flights are considered as one-off demonstration flights, Alaska Airlines has said that if it were able to replace 20% of its Seattle fuel supply with sustainable alternative fuel, its CO2 emissions would be reduced by 142,000 tonnes on an annual basis.
