Alaska Airlines partners with companies to push for sustainable business travel

Alaska Airlines has launched a program to further its sustainable aviation goals by engaging its corporate customers to participate in its decarbonization targets through the purchase of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) credits, and expanding awareness to achieve sustainable business travel.

The airline’s program is joined by its partners Deloitte, Microsoft, Boeing and Washington State University (WSU).

Consulting company Deloitte announced an agreement to advance purchase and use of SAF through the airline’s corporate SAF program, and Microsoft has also committed to reducing the scope 3 emissions of its business travel with Alaska Airlines.

“Launching this program is another step toward our net zero goal and an important step to bringing SAF to scale,” Diana Birkett Rakow, senior vice president, public affairs and sustainability with Alaska Airlines said in a statement dated August 11, 2022.

Birkett Rakow added: “While SAF is imperative to aviation’s decarbonization journey, there are multiple barriers we must overcome to make SAF commercially-viable at scale. We believe these barriers are best addressed when we work together within the aviation community and across sectors.”

The program includes Boeing and WSU as aviation and academic value chain partners of Alaska Airlines to share knowledge and advancements in sustainable business travel with other corporate participants.

On August 3, 2022, the airline signed a contract with US-based renewable chemicals and advanced biofuel company Gevo for the supply of SAF, committing to purchase a total of 185 million gallons of SAF over five years starting in 2026

In 2021, Alaska announced its commitment and five-part roadmap to reduce the company’s carbon emissions to net-zero by 2040, including SAF as the most significant opportunity to reduce carbon emissions over the next few decades.