Discussing sustainability at EBACE 2024 were (from left): European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) President Holger Krahmer, National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President Ed Bolen, Airbus Corporate Jets President Chadi Saade, Dassault Vice President of Civil Aircraft Carlos Brana, Textron Aviation President and CEO Ron Draper, Boeing Business Jets President Joe Benson, Embraer Executive Jets President and CEO Michael Amalfitano, NBAA Chair J.D. Witzig, International Business Aviation Council Director General Kurt Edwards and EBAA Chair Juergen Wiese.
GENEVA—The business aviation industry is no stranger to criticism about environmental sustainability. In recent years, the industry has fought an uphill battle on public perception. Executives from some of the industry’s leading manufacturers gathered during the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) here to discuss how business aviation drives technological innovation throughout aviation.
The panel, held as part of EBACE’s Newsmakers Luncheon, was moderated by Sky News Journalist Jonathan Samuels, who flew on a Virgin Atlantic flight across the Atlantic Ocean using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). “The business aviation industry, of course, is in a unique position,” he said. “It’s adaptable. It’s nimble. It is an early adopter of innovation. But it’s also in the crosshairs of many environmentalists.”
Each of the luncheon’s panelists recognized the race to industry-wide net-zero carbon emissions as ambitious, but they maintained that the goal is entirely achievable through collaborative means.
“It’s not something that anybody on the stage or anybody in this room is going to be able to do on their own,” said Joe Benson, president of Boeing Business Jets. “There’s no silver bullet technology or policy. It’s going to take the whole of the industry, academia, governments, everybody working together and collaboratively.”
Each of the panelists stressed the role of SAF in net-zero emissions, as electric, hybrid-electric and hydrogen propulsion face larger hurdles for technological advancement, testing and certification. Textron Aviation President and CEO Ron Draper specified government collaboration as critical to the increased implementation of SAF.
“I think they can help incentivize the production as well as the demand of SAF,” Draper said. “ And governments around the world are making investment in infrastructure of all types of industries. The electric automobile industry is making an investment in infrastructure. Some investment or some tax incentives into the production of SAF, into bringing down the cost of it, will help on the demand side. I think that’s where government policy can be very good.”
That was echoed by Airbus Corporate Jets President and CEO Chadi Saade, who listed technology, collaboration and regulations as key factors. “A few years ago, the aviation sector was commonly being described as quite difficult to decarbonize, but things have changed in recent years,” Saade said.
Of those recent changes, Benson cited Boeing’s X-66 sustainable flight demonstrator as a huge step in sustainable technology. The experimental NASA aircraft utilizes wing trusses to support longer, thinner wings that could produce up to a 30% gain in fuel efficiency, according to Benson. “When you start talking about an industry where 1-2% gain in fuel efficiency is very impactful and meaningful, something like 30% is amazing,” he said.
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