Hawaiian Airlines plans to buy 50 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over five years from biofuel company Gevo, Inc.
Gevo expects the SAF will come from a facility yet to be constructed in the U.S. Midwest.
Starting in 2029, the SAF will then be delivered to California cities where Hawaiian Airlines to and from. The local carrier currently flies to eight California cities — Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Ontario, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose.
Gevo will produce the fuel using residual starch from inedible field corn.
“This offtake agreement gets us one step closer to achieving our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We intend to continue to invest in SAF, which will be pivotal in reducing our impact on the environment.”
The fuel sales agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent, including Gevo developing, financing, and constructing the facility to produce the SAF contemplated by the agreement.
Hawaiian Airlines also has a partnership with Par Hawaii to study the commercial viability of producing SAF in the islands.
