The Maui News

Hawaiian Airlines will purchase 50 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over five years under a new agreement with biofuel company Gevo Inc., the airline announced Thursday.

Gevo expects to supply the fuel from a facility that will be constructed in the Midwestern U.S. and begin deliveries to Hawaiian’s gateway cities in California starting in 2029, according to a news release.

“This offtake agreement gets us one step closer to achieving our goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian Airlines’ president and CEO. “We intend to continue to invest in SAF, which will be pivotal in reducing our impact on the environment.”

Gevo will produce the fuel using residual starch from inedible field corn, grown using regenerative farming practices. The production process also will utilize renewable electricity and renewable natural gas, resulting in low-carbon fuels with substantially reduced carbon intensity (the level of greenhouse gas emissions compared to standard petroleum fossil-based fuels across their life cycle).

The process is designed to maximize value and minimize waste by using the same acre of farmland to produce both animal feed and renewable fuels while sequestering atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis, according to the news release.

“Gevo is pleased to welcome Hawaiian Airlines to our customer family of airlines that are working hard to achieve their net zero goals,” said Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber.

The fuel sales agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent, including Gevo developing, financing and constructing the facility to produce the sustainable aviation fuel.

Hawaiian Airlines has launched several sustainability initiatives in recent years, including a partnership with Par Hawaii, the state’s largest provider of energy products, to study the commercial viability of producing sustainable aviation fuel in Hawaii.