Presenting the Keys to a Sustainable Flight Department

With demands rising for sustainability and decarbonization across aviation, AIN hosted its first of four regional Building a Sustainable Flight Department Conferences yesterday in New York focused on concrete steps operators are implementing toward achieving carbon neutrality.

While responsible for only 0.04 percent of global emissions, business aviation is nonetheless blazing that path with new fuels, technologies, and other efforts, as the half dozen sessions covering a range of critical sustainability topics underscored. Said Dassault Falcon Jet CEO Thierry Betbeze in opening remarks, “We should be proud, not shy.”

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is “critical” to emissions reductions, NATA president and CEO Timothy Obitts said. He noted efforts to expand annual U.S. production from less than two million gallons currently to three billion gallons by 2030, and then 100 percent of business aviation's turbine fuel needs by 2050.

Carbon offsets and other footprint reductions can “bridge the gap” in goals along the way, 4Air COO of sustainability Nancy Bsales explained while presenting sustainment options and tools. Meanwhile, NBAA is developing a sustainable flight department accreditation program to help operators “move step by step to a sustainable future,” said Stewart D’Leon, NBAA's director of environmental and technical operations. For a hands-on primer, Clay Lacy Aviation senior v-p Scott Cutshall provided a detailed “what, when, and how” of his company’s ambitious and ongoing commitment to sustainability.

Understanding Sustainability Options

“Carbon neutrality can be achieved today,” said Nancy Bsales, COO for sustainability at 4Air, which launched the first carbon exchange program dedicated to business aviation this year. At AIN’s Building a Sustainable Flight Department Conference yesterday, her presentation—“Carbon Neutral, Carbon Credits, Book and Claim: Understanding the Options”—explained the “tools we have to take care of it,” and detailed the nomenclature of sustainability.

At the flight department level, the process starts by establishing an emissions baseline, measured in metric tons of CO2, and setting a budget for buying offsets. Jet fuel is the greatest contributor, but all ground operations, maintenance, and offices, and other energy-intensive equipment—even including phone chargers—contribute to the carbon footprint.

Reducing one tonne of emissions via offsets costs $400 to $500, Bsales said, and achieving total neutrality through offsets would cost “less than one percent of your [flight department] budget.” The projects these credits fund are all audited and validated to ensure they reduce total emissions the equivalent amount, and Bsales explained the choices buyers have in selecting programs that align with their corporate or personal values, be it environmental, social, or economic sustainability.

Concurrently, operators should try to increase use of sustainable aviation fuel and ask fuel providers to increase its availability, demand that will help spur more production. As these initiatives spread, Bsales said, “No one will look at private aircraft and say, ‘What did you do about sustainability?’”

A new start—with SAF

First of its kind, SAFinity combines sustainable projects with a direct investment in Sustainable Aviation Fuel. The goal is to further support and accelerate the availability and use of SAF in the aviation industry. The service is available for all aircraft and engines from any manufacturers and is part of our ongoing ambition to play a leading role in enabling the sectors in which we operate to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

SAF is Key for Reducing Carbon Emissions

Although the point has been repeated over and over, there are many pilots and aircraft operators that need to understand a basic fact about sustainable aviation fuel (SAF): it is a jet fuel, explained Keith Sawyer, Avfuel manager of alternative fuels. “SAF is approved by OEMs and ASTM and is recommended by the FAA, EASA, and other international aviation safety agencies.”

Sawyer, speaking yesterday via remote video at AIN’s Building a Sustainable Flight Department Conference in Tarrytown, New York, said that “SAF for business and general aviation is becoming increasingly important for us.”

More airports and FBOs are offering SAF, and one of the most consistent supplies has been at California’s Monterey Jet Center, which kicked of its SAF initiative with Avfuel in April. “We have a strategic partnership with [SAF manufacturer] Neste, which allows us to bring in a consistent supply. Monterey Jet Center is our most active location.”

SAF is important, Sawyer explained, because it is one of the main methods that the aviation industry can use to reach the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. “We’ve made big progress in engine and aircraft technology and flying aircraft efficiently, and one of the key components that remains is the introduction of SAF into the supply chain; that puts business and general aviation over the top.”

NBAA To Launch Sustainability Accreditation Program at BACE

With the business aviation industry focused increasingly on sustainability, NBAA will formally launch its Leadership in a Sustainable Flight Department accreditation program next month at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas, according to Stewart D’Leon, the organization’s director of environmental and technical operations. Speaking yesterday at AIN’s Building a Sustainable Flight Department Conference in Tarrytown, New York, he noted that the audit-based program, which has been under development for three years, will provide a standardized way for NBAA members to demonstrate measures they are taking to reduce their environmental footprints.

The program is designed to promote sustainability best practices for flight departments and other entities and is being supported by the organization’s newly established environmental subcommittee. 

A trial sustainable flight operations program announced by NBAA on Earth Day in April recently concluded. “The feedback that we’ve heard from the membership is that this is really great—that they finally have a single source to go to for all this,” said D’Leon. 

D'Leon assured the Building a Sustainable Flight Department Conference audience that programs like this are not designed to encourage operators to fly less or for businesses to reduce activities to try to cut emissions. “We want to work together to make business aviation environmentally sustainable,” he said. “We want business aviation to continue to grow and develop but in a smart and responsible way."

Clay Lacy Aviation Offers Sustainability Case Study

Van Nuys, California-based Clay Lacy Aviation has put sustainability efforts at the forefront, an effort led by Scott Cutshall, senior v-p of development and sustainability.

Describing his company’s experience at AIN’s Building a Sustainable Flight Department Conference yesterday. Cutshall explained the fundamental reason behind Clay Lacy Aviation’s adoption of sustainability practices. “We’re looking at how we change what we do today without sacrificing what we do in the future.”

Clay Lacy Aviation takes its commitment to sustainability seriously, and Cutshall cited three reasons the company has adopted these practices. The first is complying with future regulations that are expected to be imposed on business aviation; second is, he said, “we believe it’s going to be a competitive advantage for us”; and third, “we believe it’s the right thing to do for today and future generations.”

In advising attendees on how they might look at adopting sustainability practices, Cutshall suggested a strategy of measuring to establish existing baselines—“where am I today and what is my carbon footprint?” The next step is to look for ways to reduce carbon emissions through lower energy consumption.

After the “reduce” step, next comes replacement. This means figuring out new ways of completing the mission but with suitable alternatives, such as sustainable aviation fuel. The leftover items that can’t be addressed by the above steps can be mitigated using carbon offsets, he said.