Seven ATA Member Airlines Sign Letters of Intent to Negotiate Purchase of Biomass-Derived Jet Fuel from Solena Fuels, LLC

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, announced today that a core group of airlines has signed letters of intent with Solena Fuels, LLC ("Solena") for a future supply of jet fuel derived exclusively from biomass to be produced in northern California.

Solena's "GreenSky California" biomass-to-liquids (BTL) facility in Northern California (Santa Clara County) will utilize post-recycled urban and agricultural wastes to produce up to 16 million gallons of neat jet fuel (as well as 14 million gallon equivalents of other energy products) per year by 2015 to support airline operations at Oakland (OAK), San Francisco (SFO) and/or San Jose (SJC). The project will divert approximately 550,000 metric tons of waste that otherwise would go to a landfill while producing jet fuel with lower emissions of greenhouse gases and local pollutants than petroleum-based fuels.

"Today's announcement reinforces the ongoing steps that ATA member airlines are taking to stimulate competition in jet fuel production, contribute to the creation of green jobs, and promote energy security through economically viable alternatives that also demonstrate global and local environmental benefits," said ATA President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio. "It is through the leadership and commitment of ATA member airlines and the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative^® (CAAFI) that we are able to bring this groundbreaking alternative aviation fuels project in California to fruition."

American Airlines and United Continental Holdings led the development of the agreement with Solena and were joined by five additional ATA member airlines – Alaska Airlines, FedEx, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and US Airways – and ATA associate member Air Canada in signing the letters of intent, as well as Frontier Airlines and Lufthansa German Airlines. ATA is a co-founding and co-leading member of CAAFI, which is dedicated to the development and deployment of commercially viable, environmentally friendly alternative aviation fuels.

Solena Fuels is a platform company developing facilities worldwide to produce sustainable aviation and marine fuels from biomass. "We applaud the airlines' pledge to use our lower-emissions fuel to support their northern California operations, and we look forward to partnering with them to develop a facility that allows them to more sustainably operate their business," said Dr. Robert Do, Chairman and Chief Executive of Solena Fuels.

ABOUT ATA

Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and nearly 11 million U.S. jobs. ATA airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For more information about the airline industry, visit www.airlines.org and follow us on Twitter @airlinesassn.

SOURCE Air Transport Association