British Airways Plans 2022 Test With U.S. Sustainable-Fuel Maker

The U.S. startup will supply ethanol-derived fuel from its Freedom Pines Fuels facility in Georgia, and British Airways will use it to power some flights starting in late 2022, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. As part of the collaboration, British Airways will invest in LanzaJet and the startup will conduct early-stage planning to set up a larger biofuel facility in the U.K.

Aircraft manufacturers and airlines face growing public pressure over their emissions, which added more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in 2019, according to BloombergNEF. Airbus SE has said it will develop a range of hydrogen-powered aircraft that could reach the skies by 2035, and Boeing Co. has set a target of designing and certifying its jetliners to fly on 100% sustainable fuels by 2030.

British Airways and LanzaJet didn’t provide financial details of their agreement. The airline’s parent, IAG SA, has said it plans to invest $400 million in the development of sustainable aviation fuel over the next 20 years as part of a plan to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. British Airways is also developing a sustainable fuel plant in the U.K. with Velocys that could begin producing jet fuel from 2025.

LanzaJet was started last year by Illinois-based LanzaTech Inc. with investments from Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc. and Japan’s Mitsui & Co. LanzaJet plans to develop four larger scale plants to produce sustainable jet fuel as well as renewable diesel.

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