Delta Air Lines and a group of Georgia agriculture and business leaders are working on a plan to use unused wood from the state’s timber industry as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Wabe reported.
The initiative comes as Georgia’s forestry sector faces pressure from Hurricane Helene, paper mill closures and weaker demand for paper products. Tim Lowrimore, president and CEO of the Georgia Forestry Association, said around 8 million tons of wood grown in Georgia is no longer being used by facilities or mills in the state.
Lowrimore and Delta Air Lines president Peter Carter announced the partnership at an event last week involving the Georgia Forestry Association, Georgia Farm Bureau, the Metro Atlanta Chamber and other partners.
Carter said Georgia has the potential to become a leading SAF-producing state in the US, with unused timber providing a possible source of raw material for the fuel.
Delta has been increasing its use of SAF, but volumes remain small compared with the airline’s overall fuel consumption. The airline used more than 23 million gallons of SAF in 2025, while its mainline and connection carrier operations consumed about 4.3 billion gallons of jet fuel during the same year.
Carter said the aviation industry and other sectors would require hundreds of billions of gallons of sustainable fuel. Delta has set a target of using SAF for 10% of its fuel consumption by 2030 and 95% by 2050.
The airline has also signed a multiyear agreement with Shell Aviation through 2030 to expand SAF use at several US hubs. However, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where Delta is headquartered, is not included among the airports covered by the planned increase in SAF use.
SAF production remains limited and the fuel is significantly more expensive than conventional jet fuel. The International Air Transport Association expects SAF production to account for less than 1% of global airline fuel use this year.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said the state has the natural resources needed to develop SAF production. He noted that Georgia plants more trees than it harvests, making forestry a renewable resource that could support the sector.
“Right now we have LanzaJet in Soperton that is already working toward addressing this particular arena,” Harper said.
LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels in east-central Georgia is already operating as a commercial-scale facility that converts ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel.
The new partnership aims to build on such developments while creating another potential use for timber that is currently not being consumed by Georgia’s mills and other facilities.
