Guidance for Selling Alternative Fuels to Airlines

CAAFI has published the “Guidance for Selling Alternative Fuels to Airlines” document to serve as a roadmap for potential producers and other supply-chain participants contemplating purchase agreements with airlines for non-petroleum-derived jet fuels. It outlines key steps and criteria for potential producers to engage with airlines and highlights how and when CAAFI can help. The report was co-authored by former CAAFI Business Team Leads Dr. Bruno Miller and John Heimlich in close consultation with the heads of Airline for America (A4A) member airline fuel management departments.

To assist producers and investors, the paper constitutes a central source of answers to the following questions:

  • Why are airlines interested in commercial-scale alternative jet fuel production?
  • What are the airlines' requirements for contemplating the purchase of alternative jet fuel?
  • What are airlines willing to do to help commercialize alternative jet fuel?
  • What does a "term sheet" look like?
  • What is the best way to engage with airlines?
  • How can CAAFI help?

In addition, it includes a matrix of CAAFI readiness tools with recommended avenues for commercial engagement at various stages of development. The readiness tools are key communication protocols to help airlines, producers, and other stakeholders to explicitly understand one another's progress levels, by providing visibility and transparency into the current and projected state of aviation alternative fuel development.

CAAFI expects to augment this guidance in the future with appendices including additional lessons-learned and non-proprietary details from actual commercialization success examples as they occur.

Finally, CAAFI also provides a link to IATA’s “Aviation Fuel Supply Model Agreement” to serve as an additional resource for consideration of streamlining the process of purchasing and selling jet fuel.