United adds new corporate partners to Sustainable Flight Fund that now exceeds $200 million

Photo: United Airlines

United announced Feb. 14 that Aircastle (a Marubeni and Mizuho leasing company), Air New Zealand, Embraer, Google, HIS, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Safran Corporate Ventures, and Technip Energies are now among the 22 corporate partners that make up the airline’s 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.

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 commercialization.

Since its inception in February 2023, the fund remains aviation’s first and only venture fund backed by a broad limited-partner base and created to identify and support startups advancing feedstock and technology development focused on increasing the supply of SAF.

The airline has included a way for everyday consumers to participate as well.

Anyone using United.com or the United app has an option to contribute to supplement United’s investment in the UAV Sustainable Flight Fund before checkout.

Users have the choice to contribute $1, $3.50 or $7.

Continuing in the effort toward climate transparency for its customers, United also now shows an estimated carbon emissions for flights booked through United.com or the United app.

In less than 12 months, more than 115,000 people have contributed nearly $500,000.

SAF is an alternative to conventional jet fuel that, on a lifecycle basis, reduces greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions associated with air travel compared to conventional jet fuel alone.

To date, United has invested in the future production of over 5 billion gallons of SAF—the most of any airline in the world.

“SAF is the best tool we have to decarbonize airplanes, but we don’t have enough of it,” said Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines Ventures. “To create the fuel supply we need for our fleet, United recognized 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 commercialization.”