JetBlue, Others Invest In Sustainable Aviation Fuel Maker Air Company

U.S. airlines have been taking a beating recently, and deservedly so. Despite a $50 billion Federal injection, airline on-time and flight cancellation performance has been abysmal. And while domestic ticket sales have reached pre-pandemic highs, so have ticket prices.

But airlines are also held responsible for something they can’t do much about. There is really no alternative to jet engines (and resultant pollution) to push planes carrying hundreds of people around the world. While aviation represents only 2-3% of global CO₂ emissions, it is one of the hardest industries to decarbonize.

Alternatives like electric and hydrogen power work for cars. But weight and energy density issues make them difficult to adapt for aircraft. While airlines like to claim they are only responsible for 2% of world carbon emissions (still a billion metric tons), that might rise to 6% by 2050. It’s predicted that the number of flights will triple, while automobile emissions drop with the shift to electric vehicles.

Currently the most viable option for reducing aircraft carbon emissions is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF.) SAF can be produced from a variety of sustainable resources forestry and agricultural waste, used cooking oil, carbon captured from the air, and green hydrogen. Unfortunately, SAF costs about eight times dirty old jet fuel.

So, while there have been one-off SAF demonstrations from airlines like Virgin Atlantic, Qantas and even the U.S. air force, commercialization seemed a long way away.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is an alternative to using fossil fuel,” says Gregory Constantine, CEO and Co-Founder of Air Company. “But most SAF is only a slight improvement. If it is based on cooking oil, it is slightly lower in carbon production—but it is also using agriculture feedstocks that could be used to feed people.”

Despite the airline industry’s current difficulties, airlines like Jet Blue and Virgin Atlantic know that future growth demands on lessening carbon creation. They are among the investors in Air Company.

Air Company says it has developed the first carbon neutral jet fuel derived from captured carbon dioxide, CO₂. (A white paper on the technology was published earlier this year.)

To achieve Air Company’s “power to liquid” alchemy, Constantine says “we take pure streams of CO2 from ethanol plants. We go there because they are such a heavy emission source.” The plants turn corn into ethanol, an alternative fuel used in nearly 98% of U.S. gasoline. So, the CO2 is plentiful and pure—and would just escape into the atmosphere if Air Company did not capture it.

The company says it has signed deals with Boom Supersonic and the US Air Force, in addition to JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic. These and other partners have committed to purchase over one billion gallons of AIRMADE™ SAF.

Test batches have been produced and sampled by each of the partners. Production is set to start up (in Brooklyn!) on a limited basis in 2023. A small plant is planned to produce a half a million to a million gallons annually by 2024, with a “world scale” multi-million-gallon plant to be in production by 2027. “We’re on a pathway to cost reduction,” says Constantine.

As an innovative technology creator, Constantine expects that the company will be eligible for credits and subsides. “Without subsidies we will be about three times the cost of jet fuel. With subsidies we will be cheaper than jet fuel.” Constantine adds that while Elon Musk may have proved “Tax credits are great, but we don’t build our business around them. You never know what’s going to happen in the legislature.”

The USAF has already flown an unmanned jet flight using Air Company’s CO₂-derived jet fuel “neat” or 100% unblended. Previous tests of competitive alternatives typically mixed SAF with conventional jet fuel.

Constantine is insistent that because AIRMADE is identical in performance to conventional jet fuel, it will be used by airlines as “neat” (as in how one takes one’s Scotch), “not a blend. You don’t have to retool any engines.”

Airbus, by contrast, is attempting a “moonshot” plan to build hydrogen-powered aircraft by the next decade.

Constantine claims “Our production process is carbon negative. We have flown an aircraft on it. Sped up what could have taken decades. And if this technology were to be applied in every industry, we could mitigate 10.2% to 11% of carbon, billions of tons of carbon.”

In addition to potential jet fuel, Constantine says “We make alcohols like ethanol and methanol in our process that can be used in the beverage industry, the beauty industry, plastics, and even maritime. Cargo ships are moving to methanol fuel.”

Constantine claims “Our production process is carbon negative. We have flown an aircraft on it. Sped up what could have taken decades. And if this technology were to be applied in every industry, we could mitigate 10.2% to 11% of carbon, billions of tons of carbon.”

In addition to potential jet fuel, Constantine says “We make alcohols like ethanol and methanol in our process that can be used in the beverage industry, the beauty industry, plastics, and even maritime. Cargo ships are moving to methanol fuel.”

Air Company would seem a natural for oil company investment. But Constantine says, “We’re open to working with those who have the same values as us—to save this planet from existential crisis.”

JetBlue Ventures made a direct capital investment into Air Company’s Series A funding round. “SAF is the most promising avenue of addressig aviation emissions currently available,” said Sara Bogdan, JetBlue Director of Sustainability and ESG. “With creative thinking backed by science, Air Company’s work to leverage captured carbon, a resource distinct from other SAF feedstock, represents the kind of innovation that can expand SAF availability and grow the market necessary to reach our industry goals.”

Air Company has received $40 million in venture capital funding. As the company’s process creates both carbon-negative alcohols and fuels from CO₂, it has brought three consumer products (AIR Vodka, AIR Hand Sanitizer, and AIR Eau de Parfum) to market.

But Constantine says aircraft emissions is the primary target. “We have speeded up timelines up drastically. We have made real fuel, we’ve tested it, we’ve flown it, and we’ll continue to move towards decarbonizing flight.”