United has announced that Air New Zealand, Embraer, and Google have joined the United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund – a first-of-its kind effort to reduce emissions and drive production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) through investments in startups. Other new members among the 22 corporate partners are Aircastle (a Marubeni & Mizuho Leasing Company), HIS, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Safran Corporate Ventures, and Technip Energies.
These corporate partners make up all parts of the aviation supply chain – airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, fuel producers, engineering and technology experts, financiers, travel management and more – and have now committed more than $200 million while collaborating to provide strategic expertise to help the Fund’s portfolio companies reach commercialisation.
“SAF is the best tool we have to decarbonise airplanes, but we don’t have enough of it,” said Andrew Chang, Managing Director, United Airlines Ventures. “To create the fuel supply we need for our fleet, United recognised that we would have to help build a brand-new industry from scratch – like wind and solar in previous decades. 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 commercialisation.”
