International airlines are getting serious about alternative fuels, which, surprisingly, could be excellent news for one of Mississippi’s oldest and most beautiful cities.

Rentech, based in Los Angeles, owns the 450-acre former International Paper Company site on the Mississippi River in Adams County near Natchez. It has blueprints for a synthetic jet fuel plant and now it has something else. Last week, 13 airlines signed a memorandum of understanding with Rentech to buy all the synthetic fuel it can make, perhaps about 250 million gallons per year.

The deal signed by Rentech with Air Canada, AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, FedEx Express, JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa German Airlines, Mexicana Airlines, Polar Air Cargo, United Airlines, UPS Airlines and US Airways is nonbinding — a framework for a deal yet to be negotiated. Yet it’s still some of the best economic news this part of Mississippi has gotten in a while.

An economic impact study by Alcorn State University says the power and fuel plant would create more than 2,100 direct jobs and more than 3,400 indirect jobs during construction. Once operational, the facility is expected to create more than 400 high-paying direct jobs and more than 3,200 indirect jobs, according to the study.

The company intends to use what’s called the Fischer-Tropsch process to make its patented RenJet, the only alternative jet fuel certified for use in commercial aviation at up to a 50/50 blend with traditional jet fuel. RenJet has a lower carbon footprint as well as lower regulated emissions than fossil-based fuels.

The project to convert biomass into fuel isn’t cheap. Construction of a facility could cost more than $4 billion, and, as Gov. Haley Barbour said, “It is a long road to developing a project of this magnitude.”

But the memorandum also signals a community not resting on its history, but also looking to the future. In sum, it signals excellent work by Natchez area economic development leaders.