Business Chief US and Canada January 2023 | Page 69

Fly Victor has seen a strong uptake from members since introducing the SAF partnership with Neste in July . “ Many corporate entities are now signed up to Science Based Targets and are committed to significantly reduce their Scope 3 emissions ,” Fly Victor ’ s Co-CEO Toby Edwards tells Business Chief . “ They therefore require credible and measurable reduction strategies . We have created an industry-leading blueprint that gives corporates a very easy way to reduce , monitor and measure their emissions .”

Toby points to private jet users as an obvious and easy target but insists the publicity isn ’ t unfair if people are travelling irresponsibly . “ The fact is that flying commercially is not practical or feasible for some people and the desire and need for private jets is not going to go away . If anything , demand is increasing and has been since the pandemic , despite the media scrutiny ,” he says .

“ It is therefore important that we encourage our members to make better choices and purchase SAF when flying privately . We have already seen that if you offer people a better solution , they will start taking it . In order for aviation to achieve its ambitious net zero targets we need these SAF early adopters . Their critical investment today should be acknowledged and supported so others feel more obliged to do the same .”

Toby Edwards Co-CEO , Fly Victor required to make a significant difference are simply not possible right now , he says .

“ SAF volumes remain extremely low (< 0.5 %) and need significant scale up , which will hopefully also allow costs to come down to affordable levels .

“ Mandates in Europe help greatly by providing a clear , unassailable demand signal , targets and strong willingness to pay from corporate customers who have their own decarbonisation goals are boosting demand as well , and subsidies in the US ( eg . under the new Inflation Reduction Act ) will help to close the financial gap – so progress is being made .”

In a price-sensitive industry like aviation , cost is always going to be a stumbling block , and with SAF currently costing around 3 to 5 times as much as fossil jet fuel , the leap is significant . However , that fossil fuel price does not take into account the climate impact .

Although the sustainable fuel costs much more , Fly Victor does not take any margin on bookings including SAF . That said , it may be easier for a private jet charter company to absorb those costs compared to , say , a budget airline which is more price sensitive .

businesschief . com 69