To expedite the manufacture of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), a finance fund was established by Airbus, Associated Energy Group, LLC, BNP Paribas, the Air France-KLM Group, Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc., Burnham Sterling, and Qantas Airways Limited in partnership.

The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance (SAFFA) investment fund, in which Airbus is the anchor investor, was established by the business partners in collaboration with investment manager Burnham Sterling Asset Management. The combined commitment from the seven partners comes to almost $200 million USD.

With the goal of accelerating the availability of SAF by investing primarily in technologically advanced SAF-producing projects employing, for example, waste-based feedstocks, each partner in the fund contributes knowledge and financial skills. Investments will be spread out geographically and along the many SAF manufacturing streams.

After that, each partner may sign priority contracts to guarantee SAF offtakes for the quantities allotted to them from the many projects in which SAFFA would invest. SAFFA is concentrated on SAF that meets the requirements to be certified under RefuelEU Aviation, or CORISA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). 

SAFFA announced its first investment in Crysalis Biosciences, a tech startup whose mission is to use cutting-edge fuel and chemical production technology to revitalize the chemical manufacturing infrastructure in the United States.

Among the company's latest achievements is the purchase and refurbishment of the Monarch facility, a former ethanol plant that was shut down in 2019 and was situated near Sauget, Illinois, USA. By the first quarter of 2024, the facility will have finished its modifications and obtained the required environmental permits to start up again, producing biochemicals and SAF with low carbon intensity.