Delta Air Lines has signed an agreement with BCD Travel to offset employee travel via investment in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This is a first for a travel management company and follows a similar agreement the airline signed with Deloitte earlier this year. Deloitte also has agreements with American Airlines and United Airlines.
“With this partnership, we are seeing the entirety of the travel industry invested in creating a sustainable future for aviation,” said Amelia DeLuca, Delta’s Managing Director of Sustainability. “Travel management companies, especially those as globally focused as BCD Travel, are noting the importance of traveling sustainably. No one person or company or country alone can make the impact necessary to put our planet on a sustainable track for the future. This partnership is one way Delta is engaging major stakeholders driving toward their own goals of carbon neutral air travel, so we can make a real and lasting sustainable impact.”
This agreement represents a conceptual alignment within the travel industry to offset emissions from corporate traveler flights. This brings much-needed investment to the SAF market by building industry demand and SAF supply with the goal of decreasing the aviation industry’s reliance on conventional jet fuel.
“As one of the largest travel management agencies in the world, we are responsible for helping pave the way for the next generation of travel that helps improve the communities in which we live and work,” said Kathy Jackson, BCD’s Vice President and Executive Chair of Sustainability. “It’s part of our mission as a company to help people and companies travel smart and achieve more. And as we grow, we have an obligation to ourselves, our clients and our communities to do so sustainably.”
SAF is a critically important lever to reduce the life-cycle carbon emissions from aviation fuel. In its pure form, it can reduce life cycle carbon emissions up to 80 per cent compared to petroleum-based jet fuel and is a key component in Delta’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral. The collaboration with BCD Travel continues to underscore the significant positive environmental impact that can be achieved through collaboration.
