Embraer first entered into a SAF agreement with Avfuel in July 2021 under which it received one 8,000-gallon truckload of Neste MY SAF per quarter to Sheltair MLB, the FBO that provides storage and handling services for Embraer.  

Under the new agreement, the Avfuel will make weekly SAF deliveries from April onwards. The partnership is expected to result in a total of 240,000 gallons of SAF delivered to Embraer in 2024.

“Embraer’s collaboration with Avfuel and Sheltair marks a pivotal milestone in our journey toward net-zero emission flight operations,” said Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO, Embraer Executive Jets. “Our continued investment in SAF demonstrates our dedication to reducing emissions today and driving the industry closer to the net-zero aviation goal by 2050.”

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Victor is partnering with Finnish SAF producer Neste. To date, the company said it has had 427 SAF bookings, with average spend per booking at AED4,500, helping it achieve total CO2 reduction of 653 tonnes.

Sharing its learnings, the company said that: “One in five private aircraft charterers are willing to pay an additional AED4,500 for SAF per booking, providing an average carbon emission reduction of 1.5 tonnes. The average amount of Jet-A fossil fuel Victor customers choose to replace with SAF is 30% per booking. Victor’s aim in 2024 is for at least one in five MENA customers to buy SAF for their jet charter bookings”.

The company said it is working on two-pronged approach of increasing voluntary SAF demand and encourage adoption of its SAF blueprint by other business and commercial aviation companies across MENA.

“Our results in partnership with Neste evidence many flyers acknowledge they are living beyond their environmental means and will therefore voluntarily pay more for their carbon consumption when they fly.  We strongly advocate for the wider aviation industry to accelerate SAF demand by enabling all flyers to voluntarily buy SAF,” said Toby Edwards, co-CEO, Victor.

Victor recently relocated its headquarters to Abu Dhabi from the UK.

Victor and Neste signed a partnership agreement in June 2022 for SAF purchases.

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The Los Angeles facility joins Signature’s San Francisco FBO which has already made the switch to 100% SAF.

“This is a transformative time for Signature, and our partnership with Neste is helping us take another significant step towards net zero by providing a 100% supply of blended SAF at our Los Angeles location,” said Derek DeCross, company’s chief commercial officer.

“This collaboration exemplifies how we’re working together with both our guests and our partners to accelerate the adoption of environmentally friendly practices and paving the way for a more sustainable future in aviation.”

Signature said that customers who don’t want to pay the SAF price that it won’t affect them as the premium will be transferred to the book and claim system.

The system allows customers to buy SAF credits at any Signature location globally, paying the price difference. They’ll get environmental credit, but the actual eco-friendly fuel will be used by another plane elsewhere, like in Los Angeles where it’s available.

The operator recently passed the 30m gallon mark in terms of total SAF delivered throughout its network.

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The Monterey Fuel Company started offering Avfuel’s supply of Neste MY SAF in 2021. Neste produces SAF from sustainably-sourced, renewable waste and residue materials including used cooking oil which meets ASTM D-1655 specification.

“Our team is honoured to receive this recognition, proud to support our eco-conscious community, and thankful to Avfuel for enabling us to be at the leading edge of sustainability by providing SAF at the highest blend ratio available. Through this partnership, we’re able to accomplish real progress toward aviation’s CO2 reduction goals by offering flight departments and operators a pathway for decreasing their environmental impact,” said Matthew Wright, vice president, Monterey Fuel Company.

Monterey Fuel Company will receive carbon credits instead of traditional trophy or plaque. Avfuel purchased carbon credits in the Monterey Fuel Company’s name and will present the certificates to the company at Del Monte Aviation.

The fuel company was awarded for its efforts in significantly scaling SAF sales at its Del Monte Aviation FBO. SAF sales at the FBO have increased considerably since it began offering the fuel.

Today, the FBO accounts for 94% of SAF transactions on the MRY field, positioning itself as a leading SAF provider not only on the West Coast, but globally, and putting its commitment to support CO2 emissions reductions in action.

“The Monterey Fuel Company has been a huge champion for the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel,” said Keith Sawyer, manager of alternate fuels, Avfuel.

“It was the first company to work with Avfuel to provide an FBO with consistent supply of SAF back in March 2021. Its FBOs, Del Monte Aviation (KMRY) and Monterey Jet Center (KMRY), have continued to be strong advocates for the use of SAF at Monterey Regional Airport ever since and have transitioned multiple high-volume customers to the sustainable option. We felt their eagerness to lead SAF efforts from the forefront of the initiative was worthy of recognition.”

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Empowered by the results and learnings of the partnership, Victor and Neste now want  commercial airlines and airline ticket websites to replicate the model and include the option of SAF at check-out on their websites for all bookings.

“Why not adopt our ‘Pay here, use there’ blueprint across the commercial airline sector?”, said Toby Edwards, co-CEO, Victor.  “Flyers want a solution that they can trust and which allows a credible reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions. If airline passenger traffic more than doubles to 10 billion by 2050, as predicted, then we cannot afford to be so dependent on fossil fuels.”

Since June 2022, when Victor and Neste launched this first direct-to-consumer SAF blueprint, one in five Victor customers have voluntarily bought on average £965 of Neste MY SAF for their private jet charter bookings, with an average emission reduction of 1.5t  per booking

“Our results so far verify the potential of voluntary contributions –  including much needed cash flow – for SAF investment and growth, without being so reliant on government policy. Either way, flights are going to get much more expensive, and we should be leveraging the spending power of passengers and corporates booking business travel to scale up SAF,” added Edwards.

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The fuel company arranged deliveries to Wichita, Kansas, Little Rock, Arkansas and Melbourne, Florida. Avfuel says that with an average blend ratio of 30% SAF to petroleum-based jet fuel, SAF provided a 76t (metric ton) reduction in carbon emissions over the fuel’s lifecycle. This is the equivalent of the amount of carbon emissions created by consuming 176 barrels of oil.

Avfuel also worked with Atlantic Aviation in White Plains, New York to offer flight operators headed to EBACE the benefits of SAF through a book and claim arrangement.

Some 13 Avfuel Network FBOs regularly offer SAF in the US.

“I’m proud of the work in sustainability we’ve accomplished, both in terms of the sustainable programmes we offer our customers and in the efforts we make as a company to reduce our footprint,” said Marci Ammerman, Avfuel’s vice president of Marketing. “Sustainability is now at the core of our operations—it’s not just another selling point or a mere ideal. We are profoundly committed to bettering the health of our world by identifying and adopting green alternatives.”

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The article shortlisted in The Best Business Aviation submission was ‘Just hit the red button’/Jet charter – This time it’s personal published in Corporate Jet Investor Quarterly (CJIQ) Quarter (Q)1, 2023. This two-part cover story feature began with a flight in a G2 Vision Jet from Cirrus Aircraft’s base at McGhee Tyson Airport, TN. The OEM’s CEO Zean Nielsen explained how the jet was targeting a $20bn market place. Next Richard Kane CEO of Vision Jet charter firm Verijet told us how the firm is aiming to revolutionise private jet aviation with charter rates at a price point as low as $550 per seat.

The other two shortlisted articles appear in The Best Sustainable Aviation category. The first article in this category was Out of the frying pan into the frier, published in CJIQ1, 2023, which took readers on a tour of Neste’s Rotterdam refinery. Neste takes used cooking oil and waste fats and turns them into Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). As a banner in the refinery offices says: “Why waste good waste?”

The second shortlisted article in this category was Meet CJI’s Sustainability heroes, published in CJIQ3, 2022. We recruited our audience and an independent panel of six industry judges to select the people who are driving real progress on improving aviation’s sustainability performance worldwide. The result was a hot list of 20 men and women power players who are leading global industry improvements. 

According to the awards organisers: “The Aerospace Media Awards have been created to honour journalists and publishers who have made a significant contribution to aerospace journalism and publishing.”

The 2023 Aerospace Media Awards mark the 10th anniversary of the awards being presented in Paris. The awards evening will take place on June 18th at the Aero Club de France. Read the CJIQ shortlisted articles via the links below and register for your free copy of the journal here. The full shortlist is available here. Meanwhile, good luck to all the awards finalists.

CJI Aerospace Media Awards 2023 – at a glance

The Best Business Aviation submission
• ‘Just hit the red button’/Jet charter – This time it’s personal, CJIQ1, 2023
• Sponsored by Gulfstream.

The Best Sustainable Aviation submission

• Out of the frying pan into the frier, CJIQ1, 2023
  Sponsored by Raytheon Technologies.
• Meet CJI’s Sustainability heroes, CJIQ3, 2022
• Sponsored by Raytheon Technologies.

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The Little Rock plant will be supplied with SAF from Avfuel Corporation and Neste.

All Falcon aircraft are certified to use up to 50% SAF blends, with the new Falcon 10X capable of using 100% SAF once it enters into service.

The initiative is part of Dassault’s plan to reduce the reduce the carbon footprint of its aviation operations.

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Gracing our front cover are three G2 Vision Jets, flying in echelon formation over the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. CJIQ was beyond lucky to take the left-hand seat for a flight from Cirrus Aircraft’s base at McGhee Tyson Airport, TN. The OEM’s CEO Zean Nielsen tells us about 90% of Vision Jet sales are to pilot owners.

Investors are said to be attracted by its twin safety systems offered by the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) and Garmin’s Autoland technology. “The personal jet is intended for entrepreneurs, business owners and frequent travellers, who like flying and want to use the aircraft for business and leisure,” said Nielsen. “They want the flexibility to fly privately and the jet experience without the jet price tag.”

But charter companies and corporate flight departments are becoming more interested in the seven-seat personal jet, he added. One charter business operating exclusively Vision Jets is the Florida-headquartered charter business  Verijet. It’s CEO and chairman Richard Kane told us the aircraft promises to revolutionise private jet aviation at a price point as low as $550 per seat.

“Our ultimate goal is to empty the first-class cabin of airliners between hundreds of city pairs, where there is no direct service, for flights of less than 700 miles,” explained Kane. The key to exploiting that market is a light jet optimised for single pilot operations with low approach speeds of about 85mph, he added. “Low landing speeds of the Cirrus Vision Jet enable us to operate from about 5,400 airports throughout the US. 98% of us live within 20 miles of one of these airports – often without realising it.” These capabilities, combined with the aircraft’s overlapping safety systems, deliver low cost, efficient and neutral emissions air travel, according to Verijet. Read the profile of both companies in our features Private jets: This time its personal.

From private jets to the fuel that powers them – specifically SAF. Our feature SAF potential – Out of the frying pan, into the flier takes readers on a tour of Neste’s Rotterdam refinery. Neste takes used cooking oil and waste fats and turns them into fuel. As a banner in the office says: “Why waste good waste?”

About 300m litres (66m gallons) of SAF was produced last year – a 200% increase on the 100m litres produced in 2021, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). But there’s still a long way to go. Alder Fuels says that airlines used about 30bn gallons of fuel last year, with business aviation responsible for 1.6bn of that total.

We stay with sustainability, as Marie-Laure Gassier, BNP Paribas explains in her feature Banking on sustainable aviation how the Net Zero Banking Alliance aims to help business aviation cut its environmental footprint.

Our Aircraft Family feature turns the spotlight on the Dwyer family who run the Connecticut-based jet brokerage and consultancy Guardian Jet. After sharing a bedroom as boys, brothers Mike and Don Dwyer have built an aviation business based on meritocracy, which in 2018 celebrated generated $1bn in sales.

Another business aviation entrepreneur starring in the latest edition of CJIQ is Greg Raiff, CEO of Elevate Aviation Group. Raiff tells CJIQ how he plans to grow “the largest private aviation firm that no one has heard of”. He enjoyed a flying start in business aviation. In 1989, at the age of 18, he found himself sitting on the top deck of a Boeing 747 heading to the Bahamas. Raiff had personally sold every ticket on the flight. Read the full story here: Raising the profile of Elevate Aviation Group.

The focus stays on sales as we explore the potential to sell business jets un the Metaverse. Predicted to become a $800bn market by next year, the Metaverse offers great potential to business aviation, according to Jetcraft and other industry commentators. Read the full story here: Welcome to the Metaverse – The new frontier in jet sales. 

If you are buying or selling a business jet, check out Jet Data our handy updated guide to all the latest metrics, including list prices, for leading bizjets models.

Two CJI conference reports and our Day in the Life feature close this issue of CJIQ. Our CJI Miami 2022 conference report details how nearly 600 delegates thronged the conference to discuss the latest trends in private jet aviation. The conference featured 30 sessions spread over three days.

The CJI Dubai 2022 report detailed the boom time for business aviation in the Middle East market. Despite record demand no one at our conference, staged in the Fairmont The Palm in Dubai was complacent about the challenges that lie ahead.

Finally, this edition ends with our Day in the Life profile of aircraft valuer David Crick, MD, DavAir Group. This busy appraiser sets a hectic pace, spending up to three months away from home visiting clients worldwide. “Sometimes my Monday finishes on a Wednesday,” he tells us with a smile.

Read the full digital version of CJIQ123  here. Or register for your free hard copy of the journal here. And, if you would like to see a particular business aviation topic covered in our next edition, please email Mike Stones. Meanwhile, happy reading.

Above: At Neste’s Rotterdam refinery,  Editor-in-chief and co-founder Alasdair Whyte asked: what’s in the pipeline for SAF?

Below: Don and Mike Dwyer explain how they built the private jet brokerage and consultancy Guardian Jet.

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During the question-and-answer session, Khan was interrupted by two (uninvited) climate change protesters who burst into the conference shouting: “Aviation is ruining our future.” It was a sharp reminder for our record audience (of around 600 delegates) about the importance of addressing sustainability topics and green concerns, while focusing on keeping their businesses in the black.

Recovering swiftly from the surprise interruption, the EBAA secretary general went on to say business aviation should be proud of what it has achieved already but could do more to promote its contribution to the global economy, to individuals’ lifestyle and to humanitarian causes, such as medical flights. “Business aviation is the Formula One of the skies,” said Khan. “It is the test bed for aviation innovation [particularly sustainability]” that points the way for commercial aviation.

While the sector faced “unjustified demonisation”, if it “can show more of itself”, it could persuade more people of its merits. “By drawing from our many strengths, we can shape the narrative [about business aviation] to our perspective,” he said.

Many speakers noted how aviation needs to improve its environmental record. “The business aviation industry has been slow to pick up on sustainability,” conceded Chadi Saade, vice president Commercial, Airbus Corporate Jets. “But in the past six months to a year, things had changed fast. Sustainability is not an option. We have never experienced a time when we need to change as fast as now. It’s all about safety – the safety of our planet.”

In the medium to long term, innovative research and new technologies, like electric and hydrogen propulsion, offered scope to cut or eliminate business aviation’s carbon footprint ahead of the zero emissions target of 2050. But for now, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) offered the best practical means to cut emissions (alongside carbon offsetting schemes) and to be seen to do by global opinion, according to speakers.

Nancy Bsales, chief operating officer with the sustainability consultancy 4Air returned to business aviation’s pioneering role. “What you have to remember is that we are the people who are laying the foundation for the rest of aviation,” she said.

But high prices and low availability meant sustainable fuel faced a big challenge. Toby Edwards, CEO, Victor told delegates: “Last year, we [SAF] only accounted for 0.1% of aviation fuel. So, getting that to 10% by 2030 is going to be a huge challenge,” he said. But he reported rising demand, as clients realised the sustainability and reputational benefits of using the fuel. “What we are seeing that is super exciting, is that one in five customers are requesting and using SAF when they book with us.”

Karl Mills, chief commercial officer, Europe, TAG Aviation saw SAF delivering business as well as sustainability benefits. “Sustainability is a very powerful sales tool, which has been overlooked,” he said. “In the future aircraft owners may choose a management company based on their sustainability record, especially corporate clients.”

Corporate interest in SAF was confirmed by Elouisa Dalli, senior vice president, Marketing and Communications, Jet Aviation. ”You are seeing corporate flight departments use SAF to meet their ESG targets, some even going as far as using 100% using the book-and-claim system.”

New legislation is becoming a big incentive to invest in SAF now, said Jonathan Wood, vice president, Renewable Aviation, Neste. “Policy is going to be incredibly important in SAFs future. In the EU around 2% of all fuel used in aviation will need to be SAF by 2025.”

But it wasn’t just green topics that dominated discussion at this year’s London conference. Staying profitably in the black also framed much of the debate. Many speakers thought that while private jet aviation market may be cooling, significant gains had been made on pre-pandemic levels. Myles Walton, MD Wolfe Research acknowledged the business jet market may be slowing down but said it is still 15% to 20% ahead of 2019 levels.

The North American market may continue to grow but “in Europe, they are going to have a tough time continuing to grow”, he said. Overall OEMs were facing both supply side and certification restraints.

Growth was very much on the agenda of most companies, including Jetex. “Last year was a massive year for us,” said Adel Mardini, president and CEO, Jetex. The company handled more than 71,000 flights compared with 51,000 in 2021. Regions singled out for growth were Europe and Asia.

Answering the question are we seeing a more balanced market, Andy Priester, chairman and CEO Priester Aviation said: “We are still playing catch up. We got so far behind with the human capital infrastructure that we still have years of catch up, but at least it’s not as bad because there aren’t as many new entrants.”

Stephen Friedrich, chief commercial officer, Embraer Executive Jets said the North American market had coped with soaring demand. “The US has been able to absorb it [rapidly rising demand] because we have the infrastructure.”

Fabian Bello, CEO Journey Aviation said: “I had a handful of clients who bought at the right time and their aircraft appreciated. In the last three months with pilot issues increasing and pilots quitting, [new clients] are saying they’re going to sell their airplane, pocket the money and be done. I do think there’s going to be a shake-off where these new assets go right back into the market.”

While pre-owned jets inventories are now climbing for some categories, Zipporah Marmor, vice president, Aircraft Transactions, ACASS highlighted soaring business last year. “The surprise of 2022 was what a great year it was, after a record 2021. At the end of 2021, I thought we would never see a year like that and we saw an even better one [in 2022].”

Chris Miller, managing partner, Shearwater Global Capital predicted: “In six months’ time, we will look back and see this as the start of more normal depreciation.”

Turning to cybersecurity, Katie Bancroft, associate, Jaffa & Co said aviation was becoming more aware of the risks. “People are taking steps to protect their sensitive personal data. But it is not a one-and-done thing. You need continuous improvements to ensure your information remains cybersecure.” 

Andrew Douglas, founder, Make Tech Fly put the scale of the challenge into perspective. “If you knew some of the cyber threats out there, you would probably go back to pen and paper.”

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