SEATTLE, WA – Signaling that an industry push for sustainable jet fuel is gaining lift, Boeing said on Monday that five new airlines have joined a group dedicated to that vision.

The "Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group" launched in fall 2008 and already includes Air France, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cargolux, Gulf Air, Japan Airlines, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Joining are Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, TUIfly and Virgin Blue.

To join, an airline has to do more than acknowledge that developing sustainable jet fuel is the right way to go. It has to agree that sustainable fuel should reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that it should be developed in a way that does not hurt the world's poor (that means not turning food farms into fuel fields), and does not contaminate drinking water or require destroying ecosystems.

"More airlines want to get in, but they have to be accepted by the members," Boeing spokesman Terrance Scott said. "It's industry-led -- so they all know who's serious and who's blowing smoke, and they only want the ones that are serious about a commitment to improving their performance."

Boeing and Honeywell International's UOP LLC are associate members.

"As the first U.S. airline to join this global effort, we are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and exploring sustainable alternatives to jet fuel," Brad Tilden, Alaska Airlines' president, said in a statement.

Boeing released a preliminary report in June that provides a top-level summary of some of its findings in biofuels research. Boeing expects to release a more complete report later this year.

A full list of developments in this arena, as tracked by Boeing, are available at newairplane.com/environment.

"Aviation is stepping up and addressing its environmental and fuel challenges and the work being done by these industry leaders is at the forefront of that effort," said Billy Glover, Boeing's managing director of environmental strategy.

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