Passengers will now be able to directly fund the usage of SAF on their flights.
JetBlue Airways has just announced that it has partnered with the sustainability company CHOOOSE. The new partnership enables passengers to visit the airline’s website and input their flight information to see the amount of emissions their flight produces. The passengers can then pay extra to cover the cost of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) if they would like. Through this program, JetBlue is raising awareness concerning CO2 emissions and allowing customers to combat these emissions by funding the use of SAF.
Sustainable partnership
Through its partnership with CHOOOSE, a climate tech company, JetBlue will be able to increase SAF usage considerably without raising operating costs. It is able to do so as passengers will fund additional SAF usage. This is only possible thanks to CHOOOSE’s platform it has implemented into JetBlues website. Airline executives believe that this is the most rapid and efficient method available to increase the use of SAF. The airline anticipates that the program will be very successful and is excited to see how many passengers contribute to the use of SAF.
The CEO at CHOOOSE, Andreas Slettvoll, shared the company’s excitement concerning the new partnership as it sees it as an excellent way to promote SAF usage. Slettvoll stated,
“CHOOOSE is thrilled to support JetBlue’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions by making it easy and accessible for JetBlue customers to take action on the emissions associated with their flights and to join JetBlue in its efforts to transition to SAF. Airlines, governments, NGOs and travelers alike must come together to scale the production and use of SAF and other low-emission alternatives,”
“This is how we change the emissions at their root cause, by giving passengers the opportunity to opt for alternatives to fossil fuel. We are excited to be a part of JetBlue’s journey to becoming a more sustainable business. Together we will make SAF much more accessible to travelers across the world.”
Transition to SAF
Over the past several decades, aerospace engineers have been working to find ways to make air transportation more sustainable. In recent years the push for sustainable aviation has increased dramatically. Just a few years ago, the industry reached a collective goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Since this goal was set, airlines, manufacturers, and other affiliated companies have worked vigorously to find the best way to reach this goal. One of the options is the use of SAF.
JetBlue sees SAF as the most rapid way to reduce carbon emissions. However, like all sustainable alternatives, using SAF has some drawbacks—the largest being the cost of SAF. In a time when operating costs are already incredibly high, paying extra for fuel is difficult for many airlines. In 2022 only 0.3% of fuel used in the airline’s operations was SAF. With this new program, the airline hopes to rapidly increase the use of SAF as conscientious passengers will flip the bill for any additional costs added by the use of SAF. Through the new program with CHOOOSE, JetBlue hopes that it will reach its goal of using 10% SAF by 2030.
What do you think of passengers being able to fund the usage of SAF? Do you think it will notably affect overall SAF usage at JetBlue? Let us know in the comments below.