A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) developer Twelve has officially inaugurated its AirPlant One commercial SAF production facility in Moses Lake, Washington.&nbsp;Developed over the past three years in partnership with major investors including Alaska Airlines and Microsoft, it is the first commercial refinery in the U.S. to produce second-generation “eSAF,” using a feedstock of atmospheric carbon and electricity via the power-to-liquid pathway.
Twelve’s process captures CO2 from the air, combines it with water and renewable electricity, and converts that into hydrocarbon fuel molecules to produce SAF that meets ASTM International certification standards for jet fuel. Like all certified SAF, it requires no modifications to aircraft, engines, or existing airport infrastructure and can be freely mixed with conventional jet-A.
According to the company, the&nbsp;opening of the Washington plant—with its capacity of 50,000 gallons of SAF a year—demonstrates that American manufacturing can produce fuel by using abundant, onshore feedstocks, with no upstream extraction required. Its cost is anchored to long-term power contracts rather than commodity markets or OPEC decisions. And with supply and infrastructure to uplift SAF at Pacific Northwest airports constrained, the facility directly addresses that gap, producing fuel domestically for flights and reducing dependence on foreign fuel sources and the supply-chain disruptions that come with them.
“We broke ground on AirPlant One with a simple thesis: that the fuels powering the global economy could be made from renewable electricity and air, anywhere in the world,” said Nicholas Flanders, co-founder and CEO of Twelve. “Today, that thesis is operational, and Alaska Airlines will fly on fuel made right here in Washington State.”
The company plans for its next facilities—including one in Europe—to&nbsp;increase its output exponentially, to tens of millions of gallons annually, once built.

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Plant Opens in Washington State

Facility uses renewable electricity to produce sustainable fuel from air

A company has opened a new facility in Washington State that produces sustainable aviation fuel from air.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

Global sustainable aviation fuel production is still less than 1% of jet fuel use

IATA: SAF Production Volumes Still Disappointing

Charles Alcock

News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

Open letter to European Commission calls for more support and tax reform

Electric Aviation Innovators Call for Bizjet Taxes

Hanneke Weitering

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

ACT-LTAG to guide state action plans

ICAO Launches Program To Speed Aviation Decarbonization

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

Awards will honor both chains and single locations

NATA To Partner on FBO Sustainability Awards at AIN Gala

Companies working with SAF and hydrogen propulsion see tipping point opportunity

Fuel Crisis Raises the Stakes in Chase for Alternatives

Kerry Lynch

Company maps out next five-year plan through 2030

Bombardier Meets Five-year Sustainability Targets

Amy Wilder

Novel approach could transform prepreg scraps into new aircraft components

Swiss OEM Pilatus Studies Composite Scrap Recycling

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

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