Sustainable Aviation
Washington Launches Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator for SAF
The Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator launches with $20M funding to boost Pacific Northwest Sustainable Aviation Fuel production to 1 billion gallons annually by 2035.
This article is based on official press releases from Alaska Airlines and Washington State University, as well as public announcements from the launch event.
Washington Leaders Launch Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator to Power PNW SAF Hub
On January 8, 2026, a coalition of government, industry, and academic leaders officially launched the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator (CSAA). Unveiled at the Boeing Future of Flight in Mukilteo, Washington, the initiative aims to establish the Pacific Northwest as a global leader in the production and deployment of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
According to official announcements, the accelerator is backed by $20 million in initial funding. This capital includes $10 million from Washington State’s Climate Commitment Act funds and a matching $10 million contribution from an anonymous philanthropic donor. The coalition has set an ambitious target: to scale regional SAF production to 1 billion gallons annually by 2035.
A Public-Private Coalition
The initiative represents a broad partnership designed to bridge the gap between policy, technology, and commercial viability. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson championed the launch, positioning it as both an economic engine and a critical climate solution for the state.
The coalition features major stakeholders across multiple sectors:
- Aviation: Founding partners Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have committed to using SAF to meet net-zero goals. Boeing, which hosted the launch, is providing technical expertise regarding aircraft compatibility.
- Academia: Washington State University (WSU) will lead the research and development component of the initiative.
- Corporate Demand: Major corporate consumers of air cargo and travel, including Amazon and Microsoft, are involved to help aggregate demand.
- Government: In addition to the Governor’s office, the Port of Seattle and Snohomish County are key partners, with Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers serving as the CSAA Board Chair.
“We have all the pieces in place to ensure this once-in-a-generation economic opportunity is realized, and this accelerator will make that happen.”
, Governor Bob Ferguson, via official press release
Strategic Structure: Accelerator and Institute
To address the complex barriers facing the SAF market, the initiative is divided into two complementary arms: the Accelerator and the Institute.
The Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator (CSAA)
The CSAA focuses on market acceleration, financing, and policy advocacy. Its primary mission is to “de-risk” the industry for producers and investors. By harmonizing tax incentives and aggregating fuel demand from airlines and corporate partners, the Accelerator aims to create a stable market environment that encourages rapid scaling of production facilities.
The Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Institute (CSAI)
The Institute will handle the technical and scientific challenges of SAF adoption. It will operate a new Sustainable Aviation Fuel Research and Development Center based at Paine Field in Snohomish County. While a permanent facility is scheduled for completion by 2029, the center will open in a temporary commercial space in the coming months.
A key feature of the Institute will be the world’s first “SAF Repository.” This facility will function similarly to a seed bank, collecting, indexing, and distributing fuel samples to researchers globally to standardize testing and certification processes.
“For aviation to remain strong and resilient in the decades ahead, sustainability must be part of its future.”
, Elizabeth Cantwell, WSU President, via WSU News
Industry Context and Regional Projects
Sustainable Aviation Fuel is widely considered the most viable near-term solution for decarbonizing long-haul aviation. Made from feedstocks such as agricultural waste, used cooking oil, or captured carbon, SAF can reduce lifecycle emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel. However, current supply accounts for less than 1% of global jet fuel usage, and it remains significantly more expensive than fossil-based alternatives.
The Pacific Northwest is viewed as an ideal “test bed” for solving these problems due to its access to renewable hydroelectric power, forestry and agricultural residues, and a deep aerospace talent pool.
The Accelerator aims to support existing regional projects, including:
- SkyNRG: A Dutch company planning a facility in Walla Walla, WA, to convert biogas into jet fuel.
- Twelve: A carbon-transformation company backed by Alaska Airlines, currently building a plant in Moses Lake, WA, to produce fuel from CO2.
- Montana Renewables: A producer in Great Falls, MT, which recently received a conditional loan guarantee from the Department of Energy to expand production serving the region.
“This is a systems issue that no one company can solve. You’ve got great companies… ready to use this fuel, but we have to make it available.”
, Guy Palumbo, Amazon Director of Public Policy, via launch event remarks
AirPro News Analysis
The launch of the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator marks a shift from individual corporate sustainability goals to a systemic regional strategy. While the target of 1 billion gallons by 2035 is aggressive, the bifurcation of the initiative into an “Accelerator” (finance/policy) and an “Institute” (R&D) suggests a mature understanding of the bottlenecks.
The primary challenge for the CSAA will be feedstock logistics. While the Pacific Northwest has abundant forestry and agricultural waste, the infrastructure to collect, transport, and process these materials at a scale capable of producing 1 billion gallons does not yet exist. Furthermore, the involvement of corporate giants like Amazon and Microsoft is critical; their willingness to pay a “green premium” for sustainable air cargo and travel could provide the demand certainty that producers need to secure financing for new plants.
Success will likely depend on how quickly the Institute can streamline the fuel certification process, which has historically been a slow hurdle for new SAF pathways.
Sources:
Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines
Sustainable Aviation
Singapore Airlines Signs SAF Offtake Deal with Aether Fuels
Singapore Airlines commits to buying SAF from Aether Fuels’ Project Beacon facility in Singapore, due online in 2028.
Singapore Airlines (SQ) has finalized a firm purchase agreement to offtake next-generation Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from Aether Fuels, becoming the first carrier to commit to the upcoming Project Beacon production facility in Singapore.
Announced in a joint press release on 28 October 2026, the agreement transitions a previous memorandum of understanding into a binding contract. The deal secures future fuel volumes to support the airline’s target of replacing 5 percent of its total fuel consumption with SAF by 2030.
Transitioning from framework to firm commitment
The 28 October 2026 announcement builds on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies on 4 February 2025. That initial framework outlined the airline’s intention to procure neat SAF for a five-year period, with an option to extend for an additional five years, once Aether commenced commercial production.
While the companies confirmed the transition to a firm offtake agreement, the exact fuel volumes and financial terms were not disclosed in the release.
Project Beacon and the Aurora technology
Aether Fuels, a climate technology firm incubated and funded in 2022 by Temasek-backed deep tech venture firm Xora, officially launched Project Beacon on 11 November 2025. The project is a partnership with Aster, a joint venture between Indonesian chemical and infrastructure company Chandra Asri and commodities trader Glencore.
The commercial-scale SAF facility will be located at Aster’s refining hub on Pulau Bukom in Asia-Pacific in Singapore. Aster acquired this site from Shell to develop a dedicated sustainable fuels footprint. Construction of the facility is scheduled to commence in 2026.
Once operational in 2028, Project Beacon is projected to produce 50 barrels per day, equating to approximately 2,000 tons of SAF annually. The plant will utilize Aether’s proprietary Aurora technology to produce Fischer-Tropsch Synthesized Paraffinic Kerosene (FT-SPK). According to Aether Fuels, this pathway is expected to deliver a minimum 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.
De-risking commercial scale-up
The firm offtake agreement follows a critical technical milestone for Aether Fuels. On 29 September 2026, the company announced the successful operation of a fully integrated demonstration line at RTI International in North America.
The 2.5 barrel-per-day system combined Aether’s Aurora Tri-Converter and Upgrader units with an existing Fischer-Tropsch reactor. The demonstration successfully converted renewable natural gas derived from landfill gas and captured industrial carbon dioxide into synthetic aviation fuel meeting ASTM D7566 specifications. This successful run provided the engineering data required to de-risk the design and scale-up of the Project Beacon facility ahead of its construction phase.
Singapore’s SAF ecosystem and airline targets
The aviation industry is increasingly reliant on SAF to meet decarbonization targets, but feedstock availability remains a primary bottleneck. Aether’s FT-SPK pathway addresses this by utilizing industrial waste gases and biomethane, bypassing the constrained agricultural and lipid-based feedstocks, such as used cooking oil, that dominate current SAF production.
The agreement aligns with broader regional regulatory shifts. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has mandated a SAF levy for flights departing Singapore starting in 2026 to fund centralized SAF procurement. Singapore Airlines, which operates a fleet with an average age of under eight years, has committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
AirPro News analysis
We view this firm offtake agreement as a clear indicator of the tightening future market for non-lipid SAF. The aviation sector’s reliance on Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) SAF is running into hard limits regarding used cooking oil and tallow availability. By committing to Aether’s FT-SPK product before the Project Beacon facility has even broken ground, Singapore Airlines is moving aggressively to lock in alternative feedstock pathways.
This early commitment is necessary for airlines aiming to meet 2030 mandates. The lead times for financing, constructing, and scaling novel waste-to-fuel facilities span several years, meaning airlines cannot wait for commercial production to begin before securing their supply lines.
Photo Credit: Aether Fuels
Sustainable Aviation
SABA Members Back Infinium eSAF Facility With Long-Term Deals
Google, McKinsey, and others sign binding SAFc agreements to support Infinium Energy’s 100,000 MT/year Texas eSAF project.
Corporate members of the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA) have signed binding, multi-year agreements to purchase sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAFc) from Infinium Energy’s planned electro-sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) facility in Texas. The commitments, announced on September 22, 2026, are designed to provide the financial demand signals necessary for Infinium to reach a final investment decision on the project.
In a press release issued by SABA, the organization confirmed that American Airlines (AA) will serve as the physical offtaker for the fuel, managing logistics and delivery. The corporate buyers purchasing the associated certificates include AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google, and McKinsey & Company. The agreement marks the first time SABA’s procurement model has been utilized to directly drive new production capacity for scalable sustainable aviation fuel.
Project Atlas production and environmental targets
Infinium Energy was selected through a SABA procurement process earlier in 2026 to provide ultra-low carbon eSAF. The fuel is produced using waste carbon dioxide and renewable energy, distinguishing it from traditional biofuel pathways that rely on agricultural or waste feedstocks.
The planned Texas facility, designated Project Atlas, is expected to have an annual sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production capacity of 100,000 metric tons. According to the alliance, the contracted volumes will support an expected greenhouse gas abatement of 212,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e). SABA equates this emissions reduction to approximately 3,500 commercial flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
“We’re proud to partner with SABA members including AVEVA, Bain & Company, Google, McKinsey, and others, as well as American Airlines to bring Infinium Energy’s next world scale eSAF facility to life. Their commitment reflects a shared conviction that decarbonizing aviation requires real investment in next-generation supply,” said Robert Schuetzle, CEO of Infinium Energy.
Aggregating demand through book-and-claim
The transaction utilizes a book-and-claim model. Corporate buyers purchase the SAFc to claim the environmental benefits against their business travel emissions, while the physical fuel is delivered to partner airlines. This mechanism allows corporations to fund SAF production even when the physical fuel cannot be delivered directly to the airports their employees use.
American Airlines will manage the physical integration of the eSAF into the commercial aviation fuel supply chain. Jill Blickstein, Chief Sustainability Officer at American Airlines, stated that the corporate commitments broaden participation in the SAF market and demonstrate how customers can collaborate with airlines and fuel producers to advance decarbonization.
SABA, a joint initiative of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA), and RMI, has aggregated $500 million in SAFc demand from 35 companies to date. Aviation currently accounts for approximately 2 to 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Novel technologies are critical to meeting future demand for sustainable aviation fuel, but they will not be operational in time without investments made today. This procurement demonstrates how aggregated, long-term demand can help take promising eSAF projects from idea to reality,” said Jon Creyts, CEO of RMI.
AirPro News analysis
We view this agreement as a critical structural step for the eSAF market. Power-to-Liquid (PtL) fuels like those planned for Project Atlas face a steep commercialization barrier. They are highly capital-intensive to build and currently produce fuel at a significant cost premium compared to both conventional Jet A and HEFA-based SAF derived from waste fats and oils.
Airlines operate on thin margins and generally cannot absorb the full green premium of eSAF alone. By unbundling the environmental attributes from the physical fuel, the SABA model allows highly capitalized corporate entities like Google and McKinsey & Company to absorb that premium. More importantly, signing binding, multi-year offtake agreements provides the revenue certainty that infrastructure lenders require before financing first-of-a-kind industrial facilities. If Project Atlas reaches a positive final investment decision based on these contracts, it will validate the book-and-claim model as a viable financing mechanism for next-generation aerospace infrastructure.
Sources: Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance via PR Newswire
Photo Credit: Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance
Sustainable Aviation
EU Exceeds 2025 SAF Mandate at 2.79 Percent Blend Rate
EASA reports EU airports hit 2.79% SAF blend in 2025, surpassing the 2% ReFuelEU mandate with 1.1M tonnes supplied.
The European Union surpassed its initial Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) mandate in 2025, with SAF accounting for 2.79 percent of all jet fuel supplied to EU airports during the first mandatory reporting year.
According to the 2026 ReFuelEU Aviation Annual Technical Report published by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on September 17, 2026, fuel suppliers delivered 1.1 million tonnes of SAF against a total aviation fuel supply of 39.3 million tonnes. The 2.79 percent blend rate comfortably exceeded the 2 percent minimum required by the ReFuelEU regulation for 2025. This uptake resulted in an estimated reduction of 3.77 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are pleased to confirm that the SAF mandate under ReFuelEU Aviation was not only met but exceeded,” EASA Executive Director Florian Guillermet stated in the agency’s press release.
Compliance and distribution across European hubs
The EASA report indicates high compliance rates across the sector. Ninety-three percent of aircraft operators and 90 percent of fuel suppliers fulfilled their reporting obligations in 2025. EASA noted that noncompliance among aircraft operators was primarily limited to small business jet operators, nonscheduled carriers, and third-country operators that failed to respond to competent authorities.
SAF distribution reached 121 Airports across all 27 Member States, representing 79 percent of all Union airports. Uptake was heavily concentrated at major European hubs. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) accounted for 29 percent of the tracked SAF supply, followed by Frankfurt Airport (FRA) at 8 percent and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) at 7 percent.
Supply chain dynamics and feedstock dependencies
While the headline blending figures demonstrate regulatory success, the technical report reveals a structural reliance on imported raw materials. Although 86 percent of the SAF supplied at EU airports was refined domestically within the European Union, 85 percent of the underlying feedstocks originated from outside the bloc.
The primary feedstock utilized was Used Cooking Oil (UCO) processed via the Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway. Of the imported feedstocks, 61 percent originated from China, with additional volumes sourced from Malaysia and Indonesia. On the refining side, Neste’s Rotterdam facility alone produced 33 percent of all European SAF in 2025.
AirPro News analysis
The successful implementation of the 2 percent mandate in 2025 proves that the logistical framework for SAF distribution at major European hubs is functional. However, the heavy reliance on Asian Used Cooking Oil presents a long-term vulnerability for European aviation. As the ReFuelEU mandate scales to 6 percent in 2030, the Regulations will also introduce sub-mandates for synthetic aviation fuels (e-fuels). With approximately 50 synthetic fuel projects awaiting final investment decisions and no large-scale e-fuel facilities currently operational in Europe, we anticipate significant capital mobilization will be required over the next 36 months to prevent future supply bottlenecks and reduce dependency on imported biomass.
Photo Credit: European Union Aviation Safety Agency
-
Regulations & Safety6 days agoFAA Launches MedGuide Medication Database for Aviators
-
Business Aviation7 days agoDTA Aircraft JP1 eVTOL Targets April 2027 US Flight Testing
-
Technology & Innovation5 days agoSkyfly Technologies Raises $10M to Certify Axe eVTOL
-
Space & Satellites7 days agoBAE Systems Acquires Colorado Facility for Space Hardware
-
Route Development3 days agoIndiGo and Air India Express to Shift Flights to Navi Mumbai Airport