American Airlines, Google sign record-breaking SAF agreement

Image: American Airlines

American Airlines announced June 9 a record-breaking agreement with Google for sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc), representing the largest publicly announced SAFc agreement between an airline and a single corporate customer to date.

The new agreement will unlock 35 million gallons of SAF over three years, resulting in nearly 300,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions reductions.

Under the agreement, American will purchase and take delivery of physical fuel for Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) through existing infrastructure, the SAF portion of which will be produced from waste feedstocks like used cooking oil.

Google will receive the environmental benefits to help address its emissions from employee business travel via the SAFc Registry, which enables transparent and traceable book-and-claim SAFc.

The long-term nature of this agreement enabled American to secure a new long-term SAF offtake with Valero Marketing and Supply Co. and reinforces American’s longstanding commitment to SAF.

“Our industry-leading agreement with Google is a critical step forward in reducing emissions from our operations,” said Jill Blickstein, American’s chief sustainability officer. “By working with leaders like Google who share our commitment to innovation, we’re helping to grow demand for SAF and support the development of a stronger, more resilient market.”

According to American Airlines, this agreement was made possible by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly enacting a tax credit for SAF.

Thanks to collaboration between industry and lawmakers, American will be able to bring significant volumes of SAF to ORD.

“This strategic collaboration with American Airlines demonstrates how companies can work together to scale critical sustainability technologies,” said Kate Brandt, Google’s chief sustainability officer. “By entering into this long-term commitment, we are sending a vital demand signal to catalyze investment and bring more SAF to market.”

SAF can reduce emissions by up to 80 percent compared to traditional jet fuel and is a promising solution for decarbonizing the hard-to-abate aviation sector.

“Illinois is proud to be at the forefront of the clean-energy industry,” Pritzker said. “This agreement demonstrates how our nation-leading SAF tax credit can bring industry leaders together as we work toward a more sustainable future. Through partnerships with innovators like American Airlines and Google, we’re strengthening Illinois’ role as a global aviation hub and accelerating the transition to cleaner energy.”

The global aviation industry, which generates more than $4 trillion in economic activity per year and supports 86.5 million jobs, currently accounts for approximately 2 percent to 3 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions.

Even though SAF is a critical lever for aviation decarbonization, the industry has not yet attracted the investment required to scale production at competitive prices in line with market needs.

American and its oneworld alliance partners are focused on supporting new technologies that can scale the availability of cost-competitive SAF, while minimizing other environmental impacts.

American also continues to invest in modern aircraft, engines and operational efficiencies.

In addition to SAF initiatives, American partnered with Google, Contrails.org and Flightkeys to conduct a 16-week trial in 2025 that integrated contrail avoidance into the airline’s flight-planning processes.

The trial resulted in a statistically significant 62 percent reduction in contrail formation and a substantial reduction in related warming.