COVID-19 has changed aviation forever, and private aviation is certainly a part of that. Demand has spiked in some areas while remaining depressed in others, while it faces growing reputational risks in the face of net zero commitments and a wider societal shift to lower carbon forms of transport. The eVTOL revolution looks to change the game, but in the shorter term, much can still be done. And a substantial part of that is around presentation.
“Our view is that it would be more realistic to expect incremental improvements in sustainability in our industry in 2022, rather than to get too excited about any great leaps forward,” Richard Koe, managing director of WINGX, tells us. “The most significant opportunity for the industry is to start coordinating its disparate voices, to converge around one narrative which is constructive rather than platitudinous, positive rather than apologetic, and rigorously data-based rather than vague or static.”
“For example,” Koe says, “the case needs to be made that business aviation, and the wider usage of all aircraft vehicles on a non-scheduled basis, is providing essential worldwide connectivity, with tangible time-savings and real economic benefits. It’s taken a pandemic to demonstrate that various formats of on-demand aviation are far better positioned than legacy forms of scheduled air transportation to meet many of the travel demands of the future.”
This wider, holistic context — in terms of aviation’s full impacts, both positive in social and economic terms, and negative on the environment — is important to calculate.
In the meantime, however, there’s a substantial amount of ‘showing willing’ that needs to happen, and more sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is one way to get there.
“The footprint of all aviation formats needs to be understood as a necessary by-product of the utility they provide, not as a standalone negative emission which should always be diminished,” Koe argues. “Sustainable fuel should take some of the heat off the criticism the business aviation industry gets, even if supply constraints limit its availability in the next couple of years. The price of sustainable fuel is often cited as a factor, but our view is that many private jet customers are willing to step up and pay the cost. To that extent, the business aviation industry should be the first mover in terms of scaling up use of sustainable fuel.”
Aoife O’Sullivan, a partner at The Air Law Firm, highlights a compounding problem: “The rising cost of jet fuel (up by 70% in 2021) is a major concern for the aviation industry.”
“Apparently the prices are above pre-pandemic levels,” O’Sullivan tells us. “If the prices continue to rise, it will get to the point where the airlines and operators have no option but to consider alternative sources of fuel. The current problem is that the cost of SAF is high and until it is subsidised by Governments or suppliers, the demand has remained relatively low. This could well change if fuel prices continue to rise.”
Future greener power and propulsion may dovetail with wider macro trends
In the meantime, James Dillon-Godfray, head of business development at the private aviation-focussed London Oxford Airport, tells us, “the current turbine airliner models currently, just don’t stack-up economically until one gets into the 50-plus-seaters.”
However, he notes, “if the costs of operations for these new electric-powered models can be bought right down, be they retrofits or clean sheet designs — like UK Faradair’s-electric BEHA — it becomes an exciting prospect for small general aviation airports and regional airports.”
The macro trend of increased home working, corporate decentralisation and weekly commuting is likely to drive demand for this kind of service, as well as for eVTOLs that are expected to start arriving towards the middle of this decade, if the infrastructure and peak/trough weekly timing can be accounted for.
Following on, he tells us “I’m keen to see steady progress with the development of the first hydrogen-powered — fuel cell to generate power, then electric motors — smaller fixed wing regional airliners.”
“With the likes of Heart Aerospace and others using platforms like the Dornier 228,” Dillon-Godfray says, “converting these products could help revolutionise regional, commuter aviation for new, niche, scheduled services where the smaller 19-seat market has more or less disappeared in the last couple of decades.”
Ground operations may provide some low-hanging sustainable fruit
Meanwhile, on the ground, Alex Durand, deputy chair of the British Business General Aviation Association, tells us, “business aviation and charter companies regularly use Fixed Base Operations (FBOs) who are making good progress on the ground with the electrification of tugs and other ground support equipment, reducing energy consumption at source, through more efficient lighting and greater use of solar power.”
Given the amount of ground-based infrastructure, this is likely to realise substantial benefits as the industry begins “returning to a more familiar pattern of operations, but with expected high spikes of demand that will challenge an infrastructure still recovering from the business and operational impact of the pandemic,” Durand predicts.
A key challenge for the industry will be to manage the often countervailing pressures of increased activity and sustainability expectations. Reducing a footprint of what can be seen externally as wasteful or frivolous — just look at social media wags comparing their own rinsing of tomato tins and the hundreds of private jets in the air following the US Super Bowl — is a complex ask.
Reducing that footprint is no longer optional, suggests The Air Law Firm’s Aoife O’Sullivan. “In recent years investors have looked for evidence of environmental, social and governance responsibility in their investments. It has been very interesting to see the financiers enter this market as this will, in turn, increase the buyer base exponentially.”
But at the end of the day, says James Dillon-Godfray of London Oxford Airport, “I think business aviation will maintain its growth levels from pre-pandemic numbers with the considerable number of new users now converted into the benefits of private travel and the inherent health benefits and peace of mind when not having to use crowded airports — despite the higher cost of private air travel.”
Author: John Walton
Published: 30th June 2022
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