THE RESPONSE FROM THE SECTOR IS MIXED

Business aviation spokespeople and bodies are responding in one of two ways:

One is to do something that is public relations 101 - putting the issue into context. The second is to highlight private aviation as a possible testing ground for decarbonisation solutions and technologies.

We can see both these approaches mentioned in a recent European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) press statement where the EBAA said that Greenpeace was using “misleading data about business aviation.”

In the statement the EBAA first of all stated that “Greenpeace systematically ignores the context of business aviation”

This context, according to the EBAA is that:

“In 2022, there were 14.4 million movements in regular aviation in Europe. In business aviation, there were only 1.5 million movements. Worldwide, business aviation represents 0.04 per cent of global CO2 emissions.”

Five or ten years ago, that might have been the correct approach, but now it’s not something we would advise that the private jet sector leads on for three reasons:

It’s not only about emissions, but as the Amsterdam example showed, also about noise

Aviation as a whole is growing, and so is private aviation. Even the EBAA admits a growth of 7% from 2019

As we discussed earlier, it’s not even so much about private aviation. More so that the sector is an obvious target for perception reasons.

The second defence that the EBAA uses is better, though. They say that “business aviation is a breeding ground for aviation sustainability.”

In particular, the statement says that:

“Companies are investing in new technologies, such as hybrid and electric planes. Earlier sustainable investments by our sector in fuel-saving winglets, lighter aircraft components, and more efficient engines have already been adopted by regular aviation.

“Currently, business aviation is the biggest advocate for using sustainable aviation fuel and more efficient flight routes.”

That’s good, and that’s the approach we would recommend leading on.

In fact, we would recommend going even further. If the sector truly is a ‘breeding ground for aviation sustainability’ as the EBAA says, the net zero goal should be more ambitious than the 2050 aviation industry target.

To do so, there should be an accelerated programme of SAF use and the introduction of next-generation aircraft technologies like hydrogen-electric and electric.

To understand the big picture better, we’ll now look at three different areas:

How large private jet operators deal with concerns around pollution and noise

What the major executive jet manufacturers are doing Opportunities for new aircraft that are not powered by fossil fuels