Business Aviation 'Climbing Fast' on Sustainability

The business aviation community has coalesced behind a new campaign—“Climbing Fast”—to highlight the progress and promise it has made toward the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

Unveiled Tuesday morning at the kickoff for NBAA-BACE 2023, the Climbing Fast advocacy campaign will be used to educate public opinion leaders and decision-makers on business aviation’s commitment to—and leadership role in—sustainability.

The campaign will involve a dedicated website that will be used as a promotional vehicle, as well as a resource. In addition, plans call for paid digital advertising, a multi-channel social media presence, and a targeted media relations program.

And, the campaign is threaded throughout BACE this year, from signage and pins to sessions, including a newsmaker luncheon on Wednesday entitled "Business Aviation is Climbing Fast on Sustainability."

Climbing Fast builds on the long-time advocacy campaign No Plane No Gain, said NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen. Now about 30 years old, No Plane No Gain has evolved over the years to adapt to different environments, media platforms, and types of messaging.

“It has always been kind of a focal point for our industry, a rallying call based on a catchy phrase that was well known…and it has allowed us to talk effectively about who we are and the societal benefits that business aviation offers,” he explained.

But industry leaders recognized that in addition to touting societal benefits, “We need to be clear and unequivocal about our commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050,” Bolen said. This comes as the industry has been increasingly targeted by eco-protesters.

As such, industry associations collectively have spent several months “understanding how best to present all that we are and all that we're doing, including our commitment to sustainability to a public that may not know, understand, or appreciate business aviation.”

Working with an established pollster, “we learned that there are, maybe as you would expect, a lot of people who don't know business aviation [and] don't understand business aviation. When asked about business aviation and sustainability, they don't make a positive connection.”

The polling also showed that when presented with facts about what business aviation is doing on sustainability, people began to change their opinion. “We saw there were a significant number of people who were persuaded that business aviation is an essential industry with a commitment to sustainability.”

The industry needs to recognize that it can convey what it’s done, what it’s doing, and what its commitment is, he further said.

Bolen recounted a number of the messages, including the fact that the industry has reduced emissions by more 40 percent in just four decades and that every new model of aircraft is as much as 30 percent more efficient than a model it replaces.

“We were pioneers in efficiency, gaining advances, whether it's winglets, whether it's composite technologies, early adoption of GPS, all of those things that we have done, we've demonstrated that we are an incubator for innovation that has promoted efficiency, which is the equivalent of sustainability.”

Further, the industry can demonstrate clearly that it is a champion of sustainable aviation fuel and hybrid, electric, and even hydrogen propulsion, and it is a leader in lean manufacturing in sustainable operations.

“All of those things are things that we set out to accomplish two years ago when we made our commitment to net zero by 2050," Bolen said. "The progress has been clear and unequivocal.”

As far as telling this story, he said, several options were examined and focus groups were conducted. That led to Climbing Fast. Climbing, he said, shows forward motion in aviation, and fast represents a significant sense of urgency. The logo is styled with a leaf to represent sustainability and the environment.

“So, we are climbing fast to net-zero emissions. We are climbing fast to create new jobs. We're climbing fast to provide economic development. We're climbing fast to help companies get where they need to be when they need to be there safely, securely, flexibly, sustainably. And we're climbing paths to provide even more humanitarian relief,” he said. “But really, what you hear in these words and see in the logo is our mission to net zero.”

Bolen stressed that this is not just a mission, it’s a promise. 

“Business aviation is the technology incubator for the aviation industry as we lead the way in advancing safety and sustainability,” said Pete Bunce, president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, another of the associations supporting Climbing Fast. “Our industry supports over 1.2 million total jobs and over $247 billion in total economic output in the United States. When you look at our industry, Climbing Fast truly describes the work we have been doing to foster aviation’s sustainability and technology, advance safety, strengthen economic growth, and provide valuable services to communities.”

Bolen stressed that the campaign is an industry-wide effort with several organizations involved and supporting it.

As for the unveiling at NBAA-BACE, Bolen noted the convention “traditionally…has been an opportunity for us to celebrate all the great things business aviation does, including promoting safety, promoting workforce, and promoting sustainability.”