Sidley is representing United Airlines in its joint multimillion-dollar investment with Honeywell UOP Ecofining in Alder Fuels, a cleantech company that is pioneering first-of-its-kind technologies for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). As part of the agreement, United Airlines is committing to purchase 1.5 billion gallons of SAF over 20 years from Alder Fuels when produced to United Airlines’ requirements. United Airlines’ purchase agreement, which is one and a half times the size of the known purchase commitments of all global airlines combined, makes this easily the largest publicly announced SAF agreement in aviation history. United Airlines’ joint investment in Alder Fuels is the latest by United Airlines Ventures, a venture fund launched earlier this year that focuses on startups, upcoming technologies, and sustainability concepts that will complement United’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050 – without relying on traditional carbon offsets.
The deal team includes Kevin P. Lewis (Houston), Sandi Knox (Palo Alto), Paul M. McBride (New York), Matthew E. Johnson (Palo Alto), Jason J. Lawler (Century City), and Shaika Ahmed (Palo Alto), with additional support from Joshua T. Hofheimer (Century City), Suresh T. Advani (Chicago), Howard J. Stanislawski (Washington, D.C.), Samuel N. Tiu (Los Angeles), Stephen Abreu (San Francisco), Daphne Chen (Palo Alto), and Femi Aborisade (Houston). Additional information is available in the press release.