Avfuel Supplies First Full-Load of Sustainable Alternative Jet Fuel for Business Aviation at Van Nuys Event

Jan. 18, 2019

Avfuel is pleased to have supported the Business Jets Fuel Green: A Step Toward Sustainability event at Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) with its first full truckload delivery of sustainable alternative jet fuel — a landmark for the fuel supplier’s ongoing SAJF initiatives.

“Sustainable alternative jet fuel is the future for aviation, both in the commercial landscape and for business aviation,” said Keith Sawyer, Avfuel’s manager of alternative fuels. “Avfuel is committed to the industry’s initiative to meet carbon neutrality goals and has worked diligently in the supply of and logistics for the environmentally-friendly product.”

As part of the event, operators flying in to Van Nuys’ Castle & Cooke Aviation and Signature Flight Support FBOs were able to purchase Avfuel’s new SAJF product on January 17, helping to significantly reduce carbon emissions.

Milt Hobbs, manager of aviation for a Fortune 100 company based in the Northeast, said, “the sustainable alternative jet fuel mission is an important initiative for business aviation. I’m happy to see the various aviation organizations working collaboratively to bring the product to fruition. Flying our aircraft on sustainable fuel would help support our company’s environmental goals. I’m particularly excited about the Van Nuys event as an introduction of the product to bizav, and learning more about how and when SAJF will become more widely available.”

Avfuel supplied the day’s SAJF in partnership with Gevo, Inc., which produces the concentrated SAJF product. Avfuel then blended the concentrated SAJF product with petroleum-based jet fuel and tested the fuel for quality and to ensure it met ASTM D1655 standards.

Gevo’s product has a net benefit to the environment across its lifecycle. For everyone million gallons of SAJF the company produces, approximately 20 million pounds of animal feed and protein is produced and sold into the food chain.

Avfuel entered into an agreement with Gevo, Inc.— a leading next generation biofuels company — in July 2018 to be its exclusive fuel supplier. The full load at the Van Nuys event is the first fruits of this partnership.

But the largest hurdle to bringing SAJF to market for all of aviation continues to be the product’s availability. Recognizing this, Avfuel’s dedicated alternative fuels team has been working diligently to procure reliable sources of the product and encourage producers to create more of it through formalized commitments with flight departments—one area in which the fuel supplier notes operators can assist the initiative.

“To make this product a reality in the entire aviation marketplace, we need to encourage demand in order to encourage supply,” said Sawyer. “Just like any other commodity, there needs to be a sense of demand to foster production, even for such a worthwhile commodity like sustainable alternative jet fuel.”

Those interested in learning more about sustainable alternative jet fuel are encouraged to visit avfuel.com/Fuel/Alternative-Fuels or contact Keith Sawyer at [email protected]. Avfuel will also have an SAJF-dedicated booth at the 2019 NBAA Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference.