Making private jet travel more sustainable

The world cannot wait.

Almost every area of human activity has an impact on the environment, and minimising our impact on the planet is becoming increasingly urgent.

Air travel is an obvious focus for public attention. The reality is neither as shocking nor as clear cut as the headlines might suggest. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimates that air transport is responsible for just 2% of global CO2 emissions, with private aviation accounting for 2% of this, or 0.04% of the total global figure.

Demand, though, is growing, with rising wealth in emerging economies, the global nature of business and cheaper flights. On current trends, global air passengers could double to 8.2 billion in 2037.

Business aviation is currently undergoing a paradigm shift, prompted by a combination of technological disruption and societal expectations, with frequent fliers increasingly aware of – and alarmed by – climate change.

This is why the industry is committed to finding greener solutions. Trade group the National Business Aviation Association has announced that its stakeholders are committed to achieving carbon neutral growth in international emissions during 2020, and to a further 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2050.

The plan is to meet these sustainability goals through a four-pillar strategy: improved technology to reduce emissions; more efficient operations; infrastructure improvements and alternative fuel sources, such as sustainable aviation fuel; and the introduction of a single global market-based measure to fill the remaining emissions gap.

In fact, within the transport sector, aviation is potentially well positioned to pilot the roll-out of more sustainable bio-based fuels for several reasons. It has a relatively low number of operators and a small distribution network compared with the automotive industry, a prevalence of fleets, as opposed to individual owners, and significant economic incentives to take action given the high proportion of fixed costs that fuel represents. Most importantly, it has a clientele that is increasingly demanding more sustainable modes of operating.

VistaJet is leading the evolution of a very traditional industry. Indeed, we have already revolutionised the market by launching a business model centred on sharing economy principles, with a fleet of more than 70 young, fuel efficient aircraft serving multiple customers across the globe.

But our commitment goes further still: we are setting company-wide emission reduction targets, investing in artificial intelligence to further optimise how we fly and using sustainable products on board. From this year, we will be working with customers to offset global fuel emissions through certified carbon credits. Additionally, empty legs account for around 30% of our total flights, 25% below the industry standard.

Our priority as a company is to reduce our carbon footprint meaningfully and fast, and to explore all potential routes towards higher sustainability. But we can’t do this alone: only a multi-party contribution can help us reduce impact at scale and affect a long-term transformation.

The world cannot wait; and neither can business.

This is why the time has come for action over words.