Sustainable Jet Fuel (SAF) and Aviation Sustainability

4AIR has announced that it is facilitating a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offering at the Monterey Regional Airport with fixed base operator (FBO) Del Monte Aviation and the Monterey Fuel Company LLC. "Sustainable aviation fuel is a highly effective strategy for reducing aircraft emissions that contribute to climate change," said Kennedy Ricci, 4AIR’s president. "The use of sustainable aviation fuel goes beyond offsetting emissions to bring in-sector reductions in the near term, which ultimately is the next phase for aviation sustainability. We congratulate Flexjet, as Monterey’s launch customer for SAF, for joining us in taking this significant step forward."

Embraer and Avfuel Corporation are proud to announce their recent collaboration to bring Neste MY Sustainable Aviation FuelTM (SAF) to Melbourne Orlando International Airport. The agreement comes as Embraer announces its commitment on climate action, such as achieving carbon neutral operations by 2040 and supporting the aviation industry´s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, both of which include integrating the use of SAF into its sustainability initiatives. As part of the collaboration, Avfuel supplied Embraer with Neste MY SAF at its Melbourne, Florida, facility by delivering the fuel to Sheltair (KMLB) for storage and handling. Embraer aims to use the SAF in ongoing operations at its executive jet’s headquarters in Melbourne. Avfuel provided its first delivery of the fuel to Embraer at Sheltair Melbourne on July 14. Each truckload (approximately 8,000 gallons) of the fuel from Neste’s Houston location provides a 19.1 metric ton reduction in carbon emissions over its lifecycle—equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered by 23.4 acres of U.S. forests per year. SAF is the most effective way to reduce a flight’s carbon footprint; and, in the future, SAF could deliver up to 80% less greenhouse gas emissions versus traditional jet fuel in its neat form.

Jetex is now bring SAF to the Le Bourget airport in France. "We take pride in being part of the aviation community that has yet again proven to be accountable and responsible, taking a positive step towards reducing carbon emissions," said Jetex fuel director Sufiyan Asif. "Jetex has reiterated its stance towards this goal by making it easier for customers to avail SAF at its FBO base at Paris Le Bourget. We are pleased to be able to include SAF arrangements as part of our services for customers looking to meet the challenge of carbon neutrality."

We have been hearing alot about SAF for fixed wing jets and the push is definitely there with the blended fuels but have you heard of SAF for the helicopter segment. The first helicopter engine has been run utilizing 100% SAF. Safran Helicopter Engines performed a world first test at its Bordes facility (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France); a helicopter engine run on 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). During the test, a Makila 2 ran on a biofuel produced by TotalEnergies from residues and waste from the circular economy, specifically used cooking oil. "By offering our customers like Safran sustainable aviation biofuels produced in France, we are meeting a strong demand from the aviation industry to reduce its carbon footprint. The development of biofuels is one of the main thrusts of TotalEnergies' multi-energy strategy to meet the challenge of decarbonizing the transportation sector. This is fully in line with the Company's climate change ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050," said Virginie Merini, Senior Vice President, Renewable Fuels at TotalEnergies.

Shell is looking to become the world's largest in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) by 2025. "Currently, [SAF] accounts for less than 0.1 percent of the world’s use of aviation fuel," noted Shell Aviation president Anna Mascolo. "With the right policies, investments, and collaboration across the sector, we can accelerate aviation’s progress towards net-zero by 2050."

This can come under sustainability.

Even large helicopters are now being flown and in this case the Airbus H125. "While all Airbus helicopters are certified to fly with up to a 50 percent SAF blend, it is our company’s ambition to have its helicopters certified to fly with 100 percent SAF within the decade," said Airbus Helicopters executive v-p for engineering and chief technical officer Stefan Thome. "[Today’s] flight is an important first step toward this goal."

DHL is looking to actively use SAF blends in their operations. In total, DHL will purchase SAF worth more than €60m by mid-2022, which it claimed would potentially reduce around 70,000 tons of CO2 from its operations. "This is a first step for the Group to reach its ambitious 2030 target of meeting at least 30 per cent of its fuel needs in aviation through sustainable fuels," the company said. It will be a partnership between DHL and Neste to supply the DHL Express division with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at the UK’s East Midlands Airport.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. announced today it has signed the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow 2030 Ambition Statement, building on the company’s commitment to sustainability leadership in aviation. Gulfstream is the first business aircraft manufacturer to sign the ambition statement and has long been a leader in the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Developed by the Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition Steering Committee, the ambition statement is a declaration of intent to accelerate the supply and use of SAF technologies to reach 10% of global jet aviation fuel supply by 2030.

"For more than 60 years, Gulfstream has moved business aviation forward, setting the standards for performance, innovation, safety and comfort," said Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream. "The Clean Skies for Tomorrow 2030 Ambition Statement is a call to action to grow the supply and use of SAF. We are committed to continuing to use and promote SAF. We hope that our signing and focus on this ambitious goal will be the first of many more manufacturers to follow."

Etihad's Boeing 787-10 'Greenliner'

Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Etihad Airways today announced they will expand the companies' deep collaboration towards environmental goals. Centered on the airline's 787 Dreamliner fleet, the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) furthers Boeing and Etihad's mutual commitment – initially set through a 2019 sustainability partnership – to develop sustainable flight operations across Etihad's global network. The new agreement will focus on enhancing the efficiency of navigation and flight operations, airframe technologies and sustainable practices to reduce Etihad's fuel use and emissions. In addition, company leaders said their partnership provides an opportunity to validate concepts that could be scaled up to benefit the broader aviation industry.

"Sustainability is a core principle at Etihad, and we believe our continued collaboration with Boeing will drive further innovation in this critical area for the airline and our industry," said Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group. "With the highly efficient 787 Dreamliner in our fleet, Etihad has considerably reduced its overall carbon emissions, and our expanded sustainability alliance with Boeing will drive further innovations." Etihad is the largest 787 operator in the Middle East, benefiting from the Dreamliner family's superior efficiency. The agreement also includes collaboration to develop tools for flight planning, arrival and departure procedures, en-route flight optimization and community noise reduction.

First Bell 525 flight powered by SAF. "The Bell 525 continues to demonstrate unprecedented performance as it progresses through flight testing," said Doug May, vice president of Flight, Bell. "Showcasing the aircraft’s usage of SAF further reinforces its position as a true 21st century aircraft, capable of bringing more sustainable practices to the industry and future customers."

SAF is now available at Jet Aviation in Amsterdam. "As a clean, fully approved alternative to standard fossil-based jet fuel, we are delighted to secure a permanent supply of SAF at our first European FBO to help business aviation owners and operators contribute to sustainable aviation," said João Martins, Jet Aviation’s v-p of regional FBO operations in Europe and general manager of the company’s Zurich facility.

The latest test flight of an A350 operating on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has mobilized DLR’s Falcon 20E to capture and analyze in-flight data. Flying within 100-meters during the test campaign, the two aircraft are already delivering invaluable insight, the preliminary observations of which point to the positive impact of SAF on aircraft emissions.

Airline Air New Zealand has outlined its plans for a future elimination of carbon emissions on its short-haul domestic operations. This is where turbo-props are being utilized. They are eying the use of zero-emissions aircraft...perhaps electric aircraft sometime in the future. No word on what future electric aircraft they may be looking at.

Atlantic Aviation has not only been offering Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) but now it is looking to go even-greener across a wider swath of its operations and activities. As a consequence the company has rolled out a new carbon offset initiative at Colorado’s Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (KASE). The recently made an announcement of a program that will in effect make every gallon of fuel sold and used at their facility carbon-neutral through verified carbon credits. Atlantic will be paying for this. "As a leading national network of FBOs, we take our responsibility to drive innovation and increased sustainability in the aviation industry very seriously," said Atlantic COO Tim Bannon. "The carbon offset initiative at ASE is a first of its kind program for [us] and a great example of what’s possible when we partner with communities that share our commitment to responsible environmental leadership."

Italy now has jumped on the SAF bandwagon with the fueling of a business jet at the Milan Linate Airport. "We are really glad to have reached a new milestone for Milano Prime," said CEO Chiara Dorigotti. "The decarbonization of our sector is certainly a priority for SEA Prime and for the SEA Group, as evidenced by all the initiatives to date, and we trust that availability of SAF in Italy will increase to respond to the ever-increasing demand from business aviation operators who want to achieve sustainability objectives."