Fueling the Future – with great information

We’re all familiar with the important role SAFs will increasingly play in our quest for aviation sustainability and eco-friendliness. Yet, what they are exactly, and how they can be adopted, remains a mystery to many industry players. ‘Fueling the Future’ is a recently published guide to answer aviators’ questions about how they can switch to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) without upsetting their operations. Created by the Business Aviation Coalition for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF Coalition), it’s a helpful resource that aims to answer all the potential questions business aviation operators and FBOs could have about SAF adoption or use. And it does a great job.

Attempting to allay the concerns about performance, regulation, and safety from all areas of aviation such as aircraft operators to FBOs, owners, pilots, fuel providers, airports, and MROs, the guide outlines that at present, SAF’s availability isn’t as wide as we may hope. It explains that there are a few factors holding back the full-out deployment and commercialization of SAF but emphasizes that these have nothing to do with performance or safety since SAFs have been put under the scrutiny of a rigorous certification process. Indeed, it explains how Civil aviation authorities, stakeholders, OEMs have created a comprehensive process to test and approve SAF.

The guide states that what is hampering the business aviation community from not using SAF more widely is not any lack of trust in this fuel, but inadequate production and distribution caused by a lack of supply chain infrastructure, and (probably most importantly) a lack of understanding. And yet, despite these realities, the use of SAF by aviation worldwide is growing. This guide does a great job of explaining these issues of concern for many aircraft owners and operators.

Direct questions about SAF feasibility, whether it revolves around cost, global availability, compatibility with your aircraft, operational considerations, etc. are all dealt with clearly and concisely. It also adds that the limited availability of SAF is inspiring the industry to produce good innovations that could be used instead of this type of fuel. I look forward to hearing more about that… And, I strongly urge you to read this guide for yourself. It can be downloaded here.

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