The executive aviation industry fights for their sustainability credentials
Picture: VistaJet
The mere concept of flying private seems to be at odds with environmental goals and, yet, it is perhaps awareness if this concern that is driving some major executive aviation players to commit to rather ambitious mitigation programmes.
And, yes , I know that for some this would still fall short of expectations or they would still take issue with the idea of private flying, but assuming, as we do here in this blog, that executive aviation, in its different flavours, will continue to fulfill a number of useful roles, some of the recent developments are worth a closer look.
In fact, because of its very nature, the high disposable income of its users and the relatively small scale of its operations (vs mainstream air travel), executive aviation could be a good test bank for some of the environmental measures and policies that may later become common place in the rest of the aviation industry.
Let’s start with 4Air, a company that was not long ago on our podcast talking precisely about these sustainability in the executive jet industry.
4Air’s founder and CEO, Kennedy Ricci was on the Allplane podcast a few weeks ago, together with Adam Twidell of executive jet broker PrivateFly, to explain how their system to offset emissions works.
PrivateFly offsets 300% of the carbon emissions by default, no opt-out (this figure is based on the fact that carbon is only a fraction of total emissions) and offers its customers to contribute financially towards other measures that have an impact on the actual emissions footprint, not just offsetting it, such as paying for sustainable aviation fuel or contributing to a fund that invests in new propulsion technologies (yes, quite a long term measure, but an area that is currently going through real technological effervescence).
Now is the turn of fractional jet operator FlexJet, which like PrivateFly is part of the OneSky group, to follow the same path and announce its own 300% offset plan (plus additional optional contributions).
Pretty much at the same time, VistaJet, another major executive jet operator, announced its commitment to go carbon neutral by 2025, well ahead of the 2050 goal generally taken in the industry as a deadline to go carbon neutral.
What is interesting in VistaJet’s plans is that it plans to attack one of the major constraints the industry faces when trying to lower its carbon footprint: the lack of supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Given the state of development of electric and hydrogen propulsion technologies and the time it will take to have viable and competitive aircraft flying with these technologies, SAF remains pretty much the only technology available to meet such ambitious target.
It is with this aim that VistaJet has plans to develop its own supply together with Dutch sustainable aviation fuel provider SkyNRG. The idea involves nothing less than building its own SAF refinery. Scarcity of SAF supply has led a number of air operators, among them large airlines such as British Airways, to invest directly in some of the most promising players in the merging SAF industry.
A case in point is that of another executive aviation giant, American fractional jet operator NetJets, which is investing in a SAF startup called WasteFuel. Founded by Americans, WasteFuel aims to build its SAF plant in the Philippines, where it will turn Manila’s municipal waste into jet fuel. WasteFuel will then ship the jet fuel it produces to the US, for NetJets use.
Who’s going to be the next private jet operator to make a move in the sustainability front?