Neeleman: SAF ‘Ridiculous,’ Says Industry ‘Looking In Wrong Place’

NEW YORK— Industry entrepreneur and Breeze Airways CEO David Neeleman is questioning investments in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as a viable way to move the needle on emissions targets.

“I think SAF is ridiculous,” Neeleman told attendees at a Wings Club luncheon in New York June 15. “I’m not a climate denier, I’m just saying I think we’re looking in the wrong place.”

Neeleman posited that considering aviation contributes a little over 2% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, investments should instead be directed into the transportation industry as a whole.

“I looked up what is transportation [contributing]—diesel trucks and buses and all the diesel-powered trucks on the ground. If you took all the transportation including airlines it’s 28% of all [emissions],” he said.

Though a small fraction, the aviation industry’s share of global carbon emissions is on the rise, and airlines are working to reach net zero targets by 2050. Onboard weight reduction efforts and fleet renewal moves to add more fuel-efficient aircraft are among the initiatives being used to help close the gap. But as much as 98% of an airline’s GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions can come from conventional jet fuel. According to IATA, SAF could account for 65% of the mitigation needed to achieve net zero carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 2050.

In recent years, SAF production has increased, and 15.8 million gal. were produced in the U.S. in 2022 compared to 5.1 million in 2021, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The pricey SAF alternative still accounts for less than 0.1% of the total jet fuel used by major U.S. airlines. United Airlines, which launched a sustainable flight fund in February, has projected that it would take $532 million in contributions—or $3.50 from each of its 152 million passengers in 2022—to cover the design and construction of a refinery capable of producing as much as 40 million gal. of SAF each year. The Biden administration in 2021 launched a “Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge” aimed at spurring SAF production to at least 3 billion gal. a year by 2030.

As airlines are under pressure to ramp up SAF use and look for ways to offset SAF costs, airfares are projected to rise. But if it means facing additional surcharges on every ticket anyway, the Breeze Airways CEO says, “I’d much rather collect $5, if that’s what it came down to,” and divert those dollars elsewhere.

“There’s so many other things we can do,” Neeleman said, noting concerns about feedstock availability and sourcing. “Let’s convert 120,000 trucks in America to electric. Let’s plant some trees in the Amazon ... I mean, there’s so many things you can do, where you’re not just wasting money that really doesn’t even move the needle. Does it move the needle more to make people put 5% SAF in their mixture of fuel or is it better to convert half a million trucks to electric? Let’s go after what the issue is.”