Sustainable Aviation is Topic of Spring Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Association Quarterly Lunch Presentation

By Carmelo Turdo

The Greater St. Louis Business Aviation Association (GSLBAA) held their quarterly lunch April 16 at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. This first lunch event of the year was a great opportunity to gather with our aviation community as the turbulent spring weather settles into the area. Along with the update on sustainable aviation and delicious food, several local aviation businesses provided informative exhibits. 

GSLBAA President, Tom Buffington, welcomed the attendees to the luncheon. He invited everyone to load up their plates before settling in for the presentation. 

The guest speaker for the lunch was Kennedy Ricci, President of 4 Air, a Cleveland, Ohio-based consulting firm that assists the business aviation industry in reducing their climate impact by achieving compliance with voluntary standards or those mandated by international agreements. A pilot himself, Ricci founded 4 Air to help aviation service providers employ a realistic program to ensure sustainable air operations into the foreseeable future.

 

4 Air works with business aviation flight departments to establish voluntary sustainability programs, navigate international regulatory compliance and seek out options like sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) where available.

"It was clear that there wasn't really any understanding of how we, as an operator, try to be more sustainable," Ricci said in his introduction of 4 Air. "We do want to keep flying. We want to decouple our impact from the growth of the industry. So how do we actually do that? We launched 4 Air to develop those solutions."

So, what is sustainability? First, it is environmental impact. U.S. and International transportation growth has created rising emissions that lead to negative public perception. It is as much an image issue as it is a real, measurable effect. This has created a voluntary versus forced compliance situation, resulting in the need to change the reputation of the aviation industry. 

"When we think about what this impact does to our industry, it starts to emerge around people's view of the industry as being not sustainable," Ricci continued. "That's what we're trying to go up against here. We're trying to educate that there is an opportunity to be sustainable and continue flying. We want the choice to be whether you fly sustainably or fly not sustainably. We don't want the choice to be whether we fly or don't fly." 

Ricci mentioned that the average business aircraft emits 20lbs of Carbon dioxide per gallon of jet fuel burned, resulting in 1,000 - 2,000 metric tons emitted per year compared to 20 metric tons per individual. Nitrous oxide from persistent contrails blankets the atmosphere, especially in high humidity areas.  

So, what are the solutions? Decarbonizing is difficult if not impossible. Electrification of aircraft powerplants is not practical beyond local training flights. Some more feasible options are increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuels, using carbon offsets, improving fuel efficiency, employing technology developments and applying better use of the airspace for contrail mitigation.

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are a practical step in the right direction. Current offerings include Jet A/A-1 ASTM specification 30/70 blended SAF. Jet fuel is currently fossil carbon based, while SAF uses another source of carbon already in the biosphere like animal fat and cooking oil from friers. Accounting for all other production and logistical factors, the 75-80% improvement in carbon emissions results in a 25% net lifecycle benefit. While more abundant in Europe, there are now 114 locations worldwide offering blended SAF. SAF will remain more expensive per gallon than non-SAF fuel until additional demand/regulation increases its production and distribution levels.

Action Steps? Ricci advises that the business aviation community stay informed on sustainability issues, understand your operation, create a carbon footprint calculation, create a budget for offsets and use SAFs where available. Contact 4 Air for more information on how they can help your flight department integrate sustainability into your air operations.