By Allison Lampert
LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's biggest industry show in Las Vegas high-end jets are luring buyers with their smooth shapes, plush cabins - and increasingly, their usage of alternative fuels.
Fuel producers and jetmakers are eager to display unique kinds of air travel fuel deemed less damaging to the environment, from utilized cooking oil to the clearly less glamorous meat waste.
Business jet operators, like airlines, have actually bowed to ecological pressure on air travel and committed to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.
Their hope is that adopting eco-friendly fuel to suppress emissions could make service jets more appealing to ecologically mindful purchasers - especially corporations facing concerns over sustainability from investors or green campaign groups.
The accessibility of less contaminating private jets might likewise spare the rich and popular the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan over a recent personal jet trip to southern France.
Five Gulfstream jets on screen in Las Vegas are utilizing California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.
The most recent waste-based fuels include "fats, grease and oils that are byproducts of the food market," stated Bryan Sherbacow, chief business officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.
"All of our product is inedible."
Some of the other 79 airplane on display screen are expected to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other sustainable fuel blends expected to be pumped at the program.
FLIGHT SHAMING
Private jets represent less than 0.1% of total yearly carbon emissions internationally, but can give off, typically, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based personal charter company Victor.
Prince Harry has actually his occasional use of private jets to ensure his family's safety, and has said that on the unusual events he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.
But planemakers say occurrences such as the furore over his itinerary have included fresh difficulties for an industry already striving to validate its contribution to cutting business costs.
"Incidents of flight shaming including using private jets are unfortunate when you consider that our industry has delivered fuel efficiency enhancements of 40% over the past 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.
Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel use will help the market make inroads with corporations and rich buyers. According to market information, billionaires only have a 19% business jet ownership rate.
But even an image transformation - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this airplane flies on sustainable fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for checking out planes - is unlikely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.
Environmentalists and some experts remain hesitant that biojetfuels, generally combined 50-50 with kerosene, will make a significant influence on public understandings about high-end travel.
"No amount of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly," stated aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia.
Demand from business jet operators for renewable fuels now far goes beyond supply and their interest might drive future production, Sherbacow stated.
World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, could expand production as much as 150 million gallons by 2022.
Corporate charter companies and consultants are also seeing more interest from customers who want to purchase carbon credits to offset emissions from their flights.
Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions played a function in a business jet utilization research study his business just recently completed for a Fortune 500 company.
"At the end of the day, I think that rate, expense per hour, variety, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) driver. But I think individuals are becoming more familiar with the sustainability of operations and how it impacts the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)
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Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show
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