AIN’s 2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit (CALS) East brought together a selection of business aviation thought leaders to examine and discuss some of our industry’s pressing issues. The session’s topics included Sustainability, Maintenance, Safety, Managing Generational Differences, Insurance, Metrics, Legal, Mental Performance (health), and Retention.

Whether you operate one or a fleet of over 100 aircraft, in today’s “get there with less environmental impact” world, maximizing your flight department’s sustainability efforts has become a significant part of your daily responsibilities—and one of the most perplexing.

The CALS East roundtable attendees identified four key areas that are significant players in your sustainability efforts: SAFs, book-and-claim credits, carbon offsets, and increased recycling efforts.

SAF as a starting point.

When talk turns to sustainability, the first thing we think of is sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Top off the tanks with SAF, and you’ll instantly fly more sustainably. Ah, if it were only that easy.

While SAF is seen as bizav’s “cure-all,” many operators are still reluctant to put the fuel in their airplanes.

“We’re getting asked more educated questions about the ‘safety’ of using SAF,” an FBO representative says. “There are pilots who still think SAF will damage their engines. The industry needs more education.”

However, even with those questions, increasing their use of SAF is the “easiest” and most visible way for most flight departments to show they’re active in the sustainability game. But the cost of entry is pretty high.

Today, a gallon of SAF costs more than two times as much as a gallon of jet-A. That’s a huge bite out of an operator’s budget. But, still, to many companies, it’s worth the investment—especially for large, multi-national operators.

“They’re the ones that we’re seeing as bigger users of SAF,” explained a sustainability expert. “It’s a bigger percentage reduction against the whole company’s emissions, and they can afford to spend $150,00 or $200,000 more to achieve that 20% reduction in carbon emissions.”

Don’t be put off by carbon offsets.

While everyone at the sustainability roundtables knew what SAF is, most everyone needed clarification about the concept of carbon offsets and how to explain them to their bosses.

You have to admit that hiring a company to pay someone in another country not to pollute so you can take the “carbon offset” for that non-action can be challenging for a hard-core businessperson to grasp.

“I don’t think many people are up to speed with the emissions credit scheme,” a chief pilot said. “One of our pilots did our calculations, and then, other than sustainable aviation fuels, what are the credits made of? Half the people don’t know.”

“I don’t think anyone can honestly say that ‘Okay, we burned this much fuel, and that’s how much carbon we contributed,’” a flight department director added. “And what does it cost for SAF and then to have a company come in and help with all that offset calculation? Do we want to do it or not?”

“I’m trying to figure out what they (offset providers) all want to do, so my job is to collect data,” a chief pilot explained. “It’s going to come down to their fees and what the end result really looks like. Does their fee change if they cut our ‘carbon footprint’ by 25% or 50%? How do we prove it?”

“Then it’s up to the CFO to go to the owners and say, ‘Ok, this is going to make an impact for us,’” they continue. “I don’t think it will impact our flights either way. Our flight patterns are not going to change.”

Can you win at the book-and-claim game?

While the subject of carbon offsets caused a lot of consternation among the attendees, it was closely followed by the confusion around book-and-claim. 

“I’m still trying to understand how book-and-claim really works,” a flight department manager said. “I can buy SAF in Teterboro, but they want to bill me for the cost and then put regular jet-A in my airplane. Someone else is going to get ‘my’ SAF. I pay the higher SAF cost and get the credit, but I don’t get the SAF in my airplane.”

Again, like carbon offsets, even with sessions filled with experienced business aviation professionals, the concept of book-and-claim created more questions than it answered.

“I think what they (management) are looking at is how we can get credit for what we are already doing, and can we throw a little bit to the aviation side and get credit for that too?” a senior pilot/manager said. “I’m just collecting data, and when I get called into the meeting as the pilot, I can say something that’s taken from the data.”

Will that be paper or plastic?

While so much of business aviation’s sustainability story revolves around SAFs, carbon offsets, and the like, our roundtable attendees agreed that flight departments can do a lot of good by making a few small changes, like switching from plastic to paper coffee cups.

“Some people asked us why we were still using styrofoam when we are a ‘leading edge’ company?” a chief pilot said. “Then some are disappointed that the paper cups don’t keep their coffee as hot. We are constantly educating and explaining why these kinds of changes are important to our overall goals.”

“We think steps like this are important to our customers,” an FBO manager shared. “It’s refreshing when we show them that we’re trying to make the right decisions, so it’s good to get that pat on the back when they say they support us and the investment (in more expensive products) is worth it to us.”

Of course, whether you’re using paper, styrofoam, or plastic, sooner or later, you’re faced with the issue of what to do with it all. Yes, recycling seems like the obvious answer, but in too many instances, airport pick-ups are not yet offered.

“We want to recycle, then learned what it would cost to have it picked up at our facility,” a flight department manager said. “We decided it’s just easier for us to take turns taking it home to have it recycled by the city. Unfortunately, some of the things we want to do to increase our sustainability efforts come with a high cost attached.”