Southwest Airlines has launched a venture capital subsidiary dedicated to creating more opportunities for the carrier to obtain scalable sustainable aviation fuel, the airline announced Wednesday.
Dubbed Southwest Airlines Renewable Ventures, the group also has invested $30 million in LanzaJet, a SAF technology provider and producer “with a patented ethanol-to-SAF technology and the world’s first ethanol-to-SAF commercial plant.” Southwest said further details of the venture group’s funds were “proprietary, but fit within our financial guidance.”
SARV officially was formed in 2023, according to a Southwest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, and the carrier said it will continue to work with SAF producers and enter into SAF offtake agreements, while SARV, meanwhile, will “manage [the carrier’s] investments in” SAFFire Renewables, a company formed as part of a U.S. Department of Energy-backed project to develop and produce scalable sustainable aviation fuel, “and engage in other similar activities in support of the company’s SAF goals, initiatives and strategies,” according to Southwest. SARV’s president is Tom Nealon, CEO of SAFFire.
As part of the funding agreement, LanzaJet “intends” to build an ethanol-to-SAF facility to produce SAF primarily for Southwest. The planned facility would include capabilities to convert SAFFire’s cellulosic ethanol into SAF, which can produce greater quantities of SAF from SAFFire ethanol over time, according to Southwest.
The carrier also has SAF purchase agreements with USA BioEnergy, Velocys Renewables and Neste. In addition, Southwest has partnered with Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 to “facilitate the development and production of commercialized SAF.”
