United's newest livery "The Future is SAF"

[GON]

United's newest livery "The Future is SAF" looks awesome. The color scheme is really attractive.

Had to google SAF, as I had no clue its meaning:

"Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a lower-carbon alternative to normal jet fuel that can be used to fuel existing aircraft without making significant modifications to the aircraft and its engines. SAF used by United has up to 85% lower GHG emissions than regular jet fuel when we count all of its emissions, all the way from how it’s made and delivered to the airport, to when we use it (these are called ‘lifecycle emissions’). This does not mean our current use of SAF reduces our carbon footprint by 85%, however. We still have a long way to go to achieve net zero by 2050, as currently only 0.1% of our overall fuel is SAF."


https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/responsibility/sustainable-aviation-fuel.html

 

[Vercingetorix]

Looks to me like they couldn’t spell safe. Doesn’t make me feel safe.

 

[Bailes1992]

I'd love to see combustion engines kept alive by use of greener fuels.

I regularly fill up our cars with HVO made from recycled vegetable oil specifically. Our local reseller claims a 90% reduction in C02. Unfortunately it's a 10 mile drive away from me so not always able to use it.

 

[Astro14]

Looks to me like they couldn’t spell safe. Doesn’t make me feel safe.

Looks to me like the acronym is new to you.

Which tells me you don’t fly much.

SAF = sustainable aviation fuel.

United has been working on this for several years. We were the first airline to actually fly with it in revenue service.

We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in partnership with companies that are producing it.

We are serious about the effort.

 

[Astro14]

United's newest livery "The Future is SAF" looks awesome. The color scheme is really attractive.

Had to google SAF, as I had no clue its meaning:

"Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a lower-carbon alternative to normal jet fuel that can be used to fuel existing aircraft without making significant modifications to the aircraft and its engines. SAF used by United has up to 85% lower GHG emissions than regular jet fuel when we count all of its emissions, all the way from how it’s made and delivered to the airport, to when we use it (these are called ‘lifecycle emissions’). This does not mean our current use of SAF reduces our carbon footprint by 85%, however. We still have a long way to go to achieve net zero by 2050, as currently only 0.1% of our overall fuel is SAF."


https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/responsibility/sustainable-aviation-fuel.html
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Did you catch Scott Kirby on CNBC this morning?

A genuinely good leader. He is passionate about this effort, among many others.

Based on his accomplishments and vision, I bought UAL stock just over a year ago. At $34/share.

Scott back then said, “We will invest in our business, our employees, and buy airplanes, pay down debt and be ready for the next disruption to air travel. Wall Street doesn’t get us, but they will.”

Today, with the stock at $98 - it looks like Wall Street is figuring it out..

Scott aims to have to biggest and best airline in history.

On time performance and reliability is second to none, the network is best in the world, we have more orders than anyone, we have invested in people, the brand, the business and fleet. Financial performance is solid and making gains. Our margin is far ahead of American, Southwest and a tenth or two behind Delta (though ours is moving upward while theirs is static) and a bit behind Alaska. Don’t even get me started about Jet Blue, Frontier..

Or Spirit.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Looks to me like the acronym is new to you.

Which tells me you don’t fly much.

SAF = sustainable aviation fuel.

United has been working on this for several years. We were the first airline to actually fly with it in revenue service.

We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in partnership with companies that are producing it.

We are serious about the effort.

You should get better marketing.

 

[Astro14]

You should get better marketing.

Airlines are under tremendous political pressure in Europe because of carbon emissions. This effort, supported by the marketing campaign, is key to the future of air travel in many places around the globe.

As the largest, most profitable, airline in history, I think our marketing is working.

Maybe not to you, but the world seems to like it.

As the largest carrier across the Atlantic (ahead of BA, Lufthansa, KLM and others) the European perspective matters.

It matters a lot more than the opinion of those who don’t fly much.

 

[GON]

Did you catch Scott Kirby on CNBC this morning?

No, I am actually getting ready to go to bed.....

Congrats on the insight of buying the UAL stock. Here is a one-year comparison between UAL and AA:

 

[Vercingetorix]

Airlines are under tremendous political pressure in Europe because of carbon emissions. This effort, supported by the marketing campaign, is key to the future of air travel in many places around the globe.

As the largest, most profitable, airline in history, I think our marketing is working.

Maybe not to you, but the world seems to like it.

As the largest carrier across the Atlantic (ahead of BA, Lufthansa, KLM and others) the European perspective matters.

It matters a lot more than the opinion of those who don’t fly much.

I think the OP flies all the time and he didn’t know what it was. I don’t fly in the USA for the most part as driving is a better way to see the country. When I fly to Europe for watching F1 it’s always Icelandair because Iceland is a very nice place to visit and customs takes all of 3 minutes.

 

[Astro14]

I think the OP flies all the time and he didn’t know what it was. I don’t fly in the USA for the most part as driving is a better way to see the country. When I fly to Europe for watching F1 it’s always Icelandair because Iceland is a very nice place to visit and customs takes all of 3 minutes.

Iceland is a wonderful place. Been there many times. We fly there, too.

The OP and I have talked - often - and he flies on a major Airline that doesn’t use SAF, has labor problems, poor operational performance, is losing market share, has weak revenue and profit performance.

A friend retired early from that company because , and I am quoting him, “they really suck. I hated going to work.”

All because, in my opinion, they lack both leadership and vision.

So, you won’t hear about that airline and SAF because they don’t have a plan. They are not driving the direction of air travel, they are following the leaders.

Edit: (one final thought.). If you’re talking about the ad campaign, and the company, then the marketing has worked.

 

[Pew]

Kind of offtopic, is there an issue between the EPA on the use of avgas and it's leaded content and the FAA not "certifying" it because of all the red tape? I read a little hub-bub about it on FB some years ago but I haven't really read much else about it but would be interesting to learn the truth about this.

 

[I<3oil]

SAF is cool but the livery OTOH is pretty mehhhhhhh

 

[wpod]

Scott back then said, “We will invest in our business, our employees, and buy airplanes, pay down debt and be ready for the next disruption to air travel. Wall Street doesn’t get us, but they will.”

 

[c502cid]

Did you catch Scott Kirby on CNBC this morning?

A genuinely good leader. He is passionate about this effort, among many others.

Based on his accomplishments and vision, I bought UAL stock just over a year ago. At $34/share.

Scott back then said, “We will invest in our business, our employees, and buy airplanes, pay down debt and be ready for the next disruption to air travel. Wall Street doesn’t get us, but they will.”

Today, with the stock at $98 - it looks like Wall Street is figuring it out..

Scott aims to have to biggest and best airline in history.

On time performance and reliability is second to none, the network is best in the world, we have more orders than anyone, we have invested in people, the brand, the business and fleet. Financial performance is solid and making gains. Our margin is far ahead of American, Southwest and a tenth or two behind Delta (though ours is moving upward while theirs is static) and a bit behind Alaska. Don’t even get me started about Jet Blue, Frontier..

Or Spirit.

Oh boy, going to disagree with you on this one. The pilots may like him, but the front line employees, the one that have to talk to the customers, hate him. Much like the front line employees, many customers hate him even worse. I am a 2.5MM, was a 26 year 1K, and I fly a lot of different airlines now because Scott Kirby made flying United like every other bus in the sky, it's just transportation. I talk to a LOT of other United customers, or ex-customers, in my travels. My thoughts are not alone.

Losing loyal to a stupid fault customers, is not a winning strategy.

 

[ripcord]

Anything to keep the regulators at bay.

 

[Astro14]

Oh boy, going to disagree with you on this one. The pilots may like him, but the front line employees, the one that have to talk to the customers, hate him. Much like the front line employees, many customers hate him even worse. I am a 2.5MM, was a 26 year 1K, and I fly a lot of different airlines now because Scott Kirby made flying United like every other bus in the sky, it's just transportation. I talk to a LOT of other United customers, or ex-customers, in my travels. My thoughts are not alone.

Losing loyal to a stupid fault customers, is not a winning strategy.

You haven’t explained why, though.

“Hate him” is emotional. A lot of our front line employees think emotionally, not rationally, which is part of why they are in that job.

They are in contract negations, represented by a union with a long, sordid, and perhaps, shameful, history of promising more than they could ever deliver, dragging out negotiations and leaving their represented members frustrated and demoralized. In my opinion, and experience.

I have seen the cycle several times.

Scott becomes the focus for that frustration and disappointment. So, they “hate him”, even though their career prospects are an order of magnitude better than they were just a few years ago. Junior people flying what used to be senior trips because there is so much more flying, is totally new, but yet they “hate him” even as he has said, publicly, that our crews deserve an industry leading contract.

The barrier to that contract isn’t in the C-suite, it’s in the poor, emotional, negotiation tactics of the union. Scott is the focal point, not the cause.

 

[shortyb]

I'd love to see combustion engines kept alive by use of greener fuels.

And they will be. At least for the distant future as until they figure out how to fly a plane on batteries, sustainable/bio fuels are the best bet on reducing/eliminating aviation GHG emissions and keeping them in the air. Same for trucks and trains, even though EV is making inroads in those modes. Us old schoolers will soon embrace biobutenol and other green fuels to keep the fires, uh, burning inside our engines too .

 

[Astro14]

Anything to keep the regulators at bay.

It’s more than that. It’s a question of leading the industry in a direction it will eventually go.

Better to lead that change than have it forced on you externally.

 

[wpod]

Anything to keep the regulators at bay.

When My friend first started his practice was at Dr. James Gill St Lukes eye clinic in Tampa Fla. he gave me a book written By James Gill and It has been 40 years and all I remember is to be proactive in keeping the government out of your business as possible . The low Carbon fuel is a good thing especially for public perception. Probably it is the same as Treating , paying and benefitting your employees well keeps the union shop costs out of your business.

 

[c502cid]

You haven’t explained why, though.

“Hate him” is emotional. A lot of our front line employees think emotionally, not rationally, which is part of why they are in that job.

They are in contract negations, represented by a union with a long, sordid, and perhaps, shameful, history of promising more than they could ever deliver, dragging out negotiations and leaving their represented members frustrated and demoralized. In my opinion, and experience.

I have seen the cycle several times.

Scott becomes the focus for that frustration and disappointment. So, they “hate him”, even though their career prospects are an order of magnitude better than they were just a few years ago. Junior people flying what used to be senior trips because there is so much more flying, is totally new, but yet they “hate him” even as he has said, publicly, that our crews deserve an industry leading contract.

The barrier to that contract isn’t in the C-suite, it’s in the poor, emotional, negotiation tactics of the union. Scott is the focal point, not the cause.

I did give a reason, the UA travel experience is the same as every other airline, including Spirit and Frontier. I've flown them both this year.

They have a reason to "hate" him too. These are long term UA front line people too (I've been talking to them for years), not newbies with 8 months of experience. Because of policies decided by Scott Kirby's "leadership" customers are miserable, and the employees who have to deal with these customers get the heat. Not the pilots, not the C-suite. People. Real people who talk to these customers. The customers don't give a hoot about SAF, only Wall Street does.

It wasn't long ago the pilots were wearing badge holders that screamed "Contract Now". You got what you wanted. Other employees and customers, not so much. As someone who was so stupidly loyal to fly connections through ORD rather than non stops on DL/AA I did the only thing I could do to protest, I give much of my business to someone else. As soon as WN starts seat assignments, most of that will be gone too.