Microsoft employees flying between the company’s global headquarters in Redmond, Washington and California on Alaska Airlines will do so using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to cover their business travel.
The supply of SAF by SkyNRG is part of an agreement between Alaska Airlines and Microsoft to reduce carbon emissions and signals a new approach for business travel. It is also the first US partnership of its kind and will apply to CO2 emissions from Microsoft employees travelling between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to San Francisco International Airport, San Jose International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
Under a seperate agreement, Microsoft will purchase SAF credits from SkyNRG, and the SAF will be delivered to the airport fuelling system used by Alaska Airlines.
“After a decade advancing SAF, this partnership marks a significant milestone in the work to make SAF a commercially-viable aviation fuel alternative,” said Brad Tilden, CEO of Alaska Airlines. “SAF enables us to fly cleaner and reduce our impact on the environment. However, we cannot do this alone – we must work together with other industries and business leaders like Microsoft and SkyNRG among others who are thinking big, to achieve our goals and grow the marketplace for SAF.”
Meanwhile Theye Veen, Managing Director for SkyNRG, added, “The emergence of a SAF production system and market is a once-in-a-century opportunity to launch a new energy source for an entire industry, guided by strong sustainability standards from day one.”
As part of Microsoft’s partnership agreement with SkyNRG, the IT giant will become the newest member of Board Now, a coalition of leading companies that aims to accelerate the transition of sustainable air travel. Organisations commit to reducing carbon emissions from flying and directly contribute to the development of new SAF production capacity.
