Gulfstream Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiatives Recognized

2019 Sustainability Leadership Award from Business Intelligence Group went to Gulfstream Aerospace for its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) initiatives. The award recognizes organizations that make sustainability an essential part of their business operations.

“Innovation is at the core of our business, including our environmental strategy,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “As a company, we explore ways to support the business-aviation industry’s sustainability goals and have done this by designing aircraft for better fuel efficiency and through our efforts to raise awareness of the effectiveness of sustainable aviation fuel in business aviation.” 

In 2011, a Gulfstream G450TM was the first business jet to cross the Atlantic on SAF.  Gulfstream has steadily built on that initial effort by becoming the first business-jet manufacturer with a dedicated supply of SAF and the first to offer the fuel to customers.

In 2015, Gulfstream established an agreement with World Fuel Services for a consistent supply of SAF for daily operations out of Savannah. The 30/70 blend of low-carbon, drop-in SAF, supplied by World Energy, has been used with Jet-A fuel in daily operations for corporate, demonstration, Customer Support and Flight Test flights. Gulfstream-operated aircraft have flown nearly 830,000 nautical miles/1,537,160 kilometers on SAF, saving more than 950 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

Earlier this year, Gulfstream became the first business-jet original equipment manufacturer to make SAF available to customers. The fuel is available to customers using Gulfstream’s Long Beach facility, where SAF is also being used for Completions flights.

Gulfstream’s sustainability strategy and SAF initiatives help support the business aviation industry goals established by the National Business Aviation Association, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the International Business Aviation Council. Those goals include carbon-neutral growth by 2020, an improvement in fuel efficiency and reduction in total carbon dioxide emissions.

Gulfstream’s supply of SAF is chemically equivalent to conventional Jet-A and offers the same performance and safety standards. Each gallon of SAF burned achieves a more-than 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, relative to petroleum-based jet fuel, on a lifecycle basis.