Southwest expands push into SAF with takeover of SAFFiRE

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV), an investor in SAFFiRE Renewables LLC, announced recently it has taken over the US corn stover to ethanol technology company to advance its strategy to replace a portion of its total jet fuel consumption with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

SAFFiRE is designing and building a pilot plant to produce renewable ethanol that can be upgraded into SAF. The facility will be hosted by Conestoga Energy’s ethanol facility in Liberal, Kansas. Its output is planned to be converted into SAF by Illinois-based sustainable fuels firm LanzaJet Inc.

The company is part of a project supported by the Department of Energy (DoE) and expects to initially utilise technology developed at the latter’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to process 10 tonnes of corn stover per day for the production of renewable ethanol.

Southwest, which has committed to replacing 10% of its total jet fuel consumption with SAF by 2030, first invested in SAFFiRE during phase one of the pilot project in 2022.

The takeover announcement follows Southwest’s recent USD-30-million (EUR 27.7m) investment in LanzaJet in early March. That deal was made to secure SAF for the airline and also paved the way for collaboration with SAFFiRE.

“Championing SAF is a key pillar of Southwest's Nonstop to Net Zero plan and our work toward a more sustainable future for air travel,” Southwest’s CEO Bob Jordan said.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.925)

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