CAAFI unveiled Guidance for Selling Alternative Fuels to Airlines to serve as a roadmap for potential producers and other supply-chain participants contemplating purchase agreements with airlines for non-petroleum-derived jet fuels. It outlines key steps and criteria for potential producers to engage with airlines and highlights how and when CAAFI can help. The report was co-authored by CAAFI Business Team Leaders Dr. Bruno Miller, Principal Analyst-Energy and Environment at Metron Aviation and John Heimlich, Vice President and Chief Economist at Airlines for America (A4A), in close consultation with the heads of A4A member airline fuel management departments.
To assist producers and investors, the paper constitutes a central source of answers to the following questions:
- Why are airlines interested in commercial-scale alternative jet fuel production?
- What are the airlines’ requirements for contemplating the purchase of alternative jet fuel?
- What are airlines willing to do to help commercialize alternative jet fuel?
- What does a “term sheet” look like?
- What is the best way to engage with airlines?
- How can CAAFI help?
In addition, it includes a matrix of CAAFI readiness tools with recommended avenues for commercial engagement at various stages of development. The readiness tools are key communication protocols to help airlines, producers, and other stakeholders to explicitly understand one another’s progress levels, by providing visibility and transparency into the current and project state of aviation alternative fuel development.
U.S. airlines and the broader commercial aviation industry have an exceptional environmental track record and remain committed to the pursuit of environmentally preferred, operationally reliable, economically viable aviation fuels. Guidance for Selling Alternative Fuels to Airlines lays out a foundation for advancing those aims.
CAAFI expects to augment this guidance with appendices including additional lessons-learned and non-proprietary details from actual commercialization success examples.