While sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) remains the critical bridge, particularly for turbine-powered business aviation in the near- and mid-term, general aviation industry officials attending Aero Friedrichshafen last week in Germany see roadblocks to getting there.
Kyle Martin, v-p of European affairs for GAMA, called attention to recent legislation passed that draws the problem to a head in terms of the availability of SAF. “We face some challenges getting access to that fuel,” he said. “Europe has passed the Refuel EU Aviation Regulation, which mandates SAF at large airports. That’s all fine for the airlines. But roughly 2,000 airfields are used daily by business aviation.”
Airlines have commanded the bulk of the fuel available on the continent to reach their milestones of SAF implementation, squeezing supply for charter and private aircraft operators.
With the centralized sourcing and uptake in volume, prices could foreseeably come down closer to U.S. levels from the current going rates for SAF in Europe—between 300% and 600% higher than jet-A, according to operators at Aero Friedrichshafen.
To ease the strain on the system, the European Commission could adopt a book-and-claim model similar to that used in the U.S. But the political will to make this happen is failing to materialize. According to GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce, “We cannot convince the commission that this is the smartest way to go.”
The halls at the 30th commencement of the Aero exposition at Friedrichshafen, Germany, felt charged with the advent of light aircraft seemingly poised to electrify flight. A cascade of companies—both established manufacturers, such as Diamond Aircraft and Textron eAviation, and start-ups such as H55 partnering with BRM Aero—presented two-seat solutions to the question of how to power aviation towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
So, it would be easy to presume that electric technology will be ready to carry the load by the time we run out of runway on the acceptance of fossil fuels in the marketplace. The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) continues to add member companies to its ranks in this space, with both electric-powered VTOLs and conventional aircraft.
However, every solution I saw at Aero 2024 turns around a powertrain that remains limited in how much it can lift, how fast it can fly, and for how long. Tine Tomažič, director of engineering and programs for Pipistrel—an early adopter and proponent of electric flight—noted in our interview at the show that the industry is still working incrementally towards larger battery packs and charging networks in the two- to four-seat realm. He pointed out that an airplane twice as fast as the EASA-certified and FAA-accepted Velis Electro—the 200-knot Panthera—must be powered by a hybrid solution for the next several years. The current edition, with a standard Lycoming IO-540 powerplant, uses up to 30 percent less fuel than others in the segment, and the upcoming hybrid-electric version will advance this.
“This is an aircraft that you take and you go [the] distance,” said Tomažič. “Speed matters, efficiency matters, and it's just something that batteries will not be able to pull off in quite a while. The other point [as to] why we think hybrid is more appropriate for Panthera is not being dependent on the infrastructure.”
With an all-electric aircraft, you need a charger wherever you land. “It has to be able to recharge itself, and it has to have long legs. And these are the intrinsic characteristics that you have in hybrid power trains.”
As we look to even larger, faster aircraft commonly used by business aviation, we can watch the progress of the Daher/Safran/Airbus EcoPulse—a 300-plus-knot airplane on a TBM frame—and witness how a hybrid solution is the only reasonable answer until problems with high energy power packs and electrical distribution are solved.
Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s aircraft division, updated on the company’s efforts during a GAMA-hosted panel reporting out on the association’s recently published white paper, “Recommendations for the Development of the Electric Aviation Sector in Europe,” at Aero.
“If we just take one idea, it's not going to be a product—either it is going to be a combination of some technology breakthrough [or] some change of lines where we…evolve,” said Chabbert. Making it marketable is key, and that blends range and speed with a safe, reliable powertrain.
We need jet-A to run our turboprops and turbine engines to support this development process—for as far as we can see into the crystal ball. Avgas is becoming intensely expensive and difficult to obtain—and must be unleaded by mandate much sooner than 2030 in Europe, as opposed to what’s projected in the U.S. Therefore, the low- or no-emissions alternative to jet-A—sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—remains the critical bridge, particularly for turbine-powered business aviation in the near- and mid-term.
Kyle Martin, vice president of European Affairs for GAMA, called attention to recent legislation passed that draws the problem to a head in terms of the availability of SAF.
“We face some challenges getting access to that fuel,” said Martin. “Europe has passed the Refuel EU Aviation Regulation, which mandates SAF at large airports. That’s all fine for the airlines. But roughly 2,000 airfields are used daily by business aviation.”
Commercial aviation has commanded the bulk of the fuel available on the continent to even come close to making its milestones of SAF implementation, squeezing out the supply from both charter and private operators.
With the centralized sourcing and uptake in volume, prices could foreseeably come down closer to U.S. levels from the current going rates for SAF in Europe—between 300% and 600% higher than standard jet-A, according to operators at Aero.
To ease the strain on the system. the European Commission can adopt a book-and-claim model similar to that used in the U.S. Book-and-claim allows an operator to receive credit for—and pay the higher price for—biofuel SAF (roughly twice as much as regular jet-A in the U.S.) dispensed at another airport, and allows a user there to pick up the fuel for the price of carbon-based jet-A.
But the political will to make this happen is failing to materialize. According to Pete Bunce, president and CEO of GAMA, “We cannot convince the commission that this is the smartest way to go.”
And that’s the rub: getting the message across to those who can pull the levers of the importance of business aviation in the region. “GA provides our communities with numerous important services,” said Bunce, “including farming and agriculture, pilot training, emergency services such as air ambulances, police, services, and—something near and dear to me—firefighting, as well as missions such as medical transportation and cargo for emergency [disaster management].”
With the higher volumes and short-term solution to the distribution problem in mind—as well as the key role it plays in powering innovation—a means to support SAF’s increased availability and expansion must be found.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by AIN Media Group.