Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)On 28 November, Virgin Atlantic flew world's first 100% SAF flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK. Emirates flew the first A380 demonstration flight with 100% SAF on 22 November. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. successfully completed a trans-Atlantic flight using 100% SAF on 19 November with a Gulfstream G600 aircraft.
ZeroAvia announced that it has completed its Series C funding round at a total of $116m. also in the UK, Project Speedbird - a partnership between Nova Pangaea Technologies, LanzaJet and British Airways - has secured a total of £9 million from the Government's Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF) competition. The project will produce 102 million liters of SAF per year. Air France-KLM confirmed its strategic cooperation with SAF producer DG Fuels by investing in their SAF production facility in the United States. The group acquired an option to purchase up to 75,000 tonnes of SAF annually over a multi-year period beginning in 2029. This option comes in addition to the long-term offtake contract announced by Air France-KLM and DG Fuels last year. Rolls-Royce announced that it has successfully completed compatibility testing of 100% SAF on all its in-production civil aero engine types. Boeing and Zero Petroleum announced a collaboration for testing and analyzing the next generation of technologies to accelerate the supply of SAF. In Germany, the manufacturer joined aireg, the German initiative for SAF. Macquarie Asset Management will support the growth of SAF with an initial investment of up to €175 million in SkyNRG via the Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions (MGETS) Fund. Fuel producer Repsol Repsol received the first ship carrying used cooking oil for its new renewable fuels plant in Cartagena, and will supply SAF to Atlas Air and Inditex for regular use on cargo flights.
In the US, Infinium and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst recently announced a $75 million project equity investment commitment to support Infinium's Project Roadrunner. Project Roadrunner will convert waste CO2 and renewable power into SAF and other low-carbon fuels. This first-of-a-kind commercial-scale Power-to-Liquids (PtL) eFuels facility is expected to be the largest PtL eFuels project in North America once operational. This investment in Project Roadrunner Investment will enable availability of SAF under innovative fuel offtake agreement with American Airlines, with financial support from Citi. Southwest Airlines announced an updated sustainability strategy, Nonstop to Net Zero, which outlines the carrier's path toward its goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Topsoe has signed licensing and engineering agreements with Santa Maria to develop a project, focusing on the production of renewable fuels from various renewable feedstocks. The proposed project, located in East Texas, plans to produce a combination of renewable diesel and SAF.
Emirates joined a UAE-based research consortium for renewable and advanced aviation fuels. The consortium, Air-CRAFT, is supported by the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, and comprises eight founding entities: ADNOC, Boeing, Emirates, ENOC Group, Etihad, Honeywell, Khalifa University, Masdar. Neste and ENOC Group, a leading integrated global energy player, have agreed to collaborate to explore the possibilities of supplying and purchasing SAF in Dubai and the wider Middle East North Africa (MENA) region in the coming years. The U.S. Department of Transportation, the FAA and Boeing will collaborate with APEC economies towards developing SAF to increase access to supply for use by region's airlines.
In Asia, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) and its members pledged to work together to strive for a SAF utilization target of 5% by 2030. In Singapore, The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), GenZero, and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have completed a 20-month SAF pilot, which commenced in February 2022, in partnership with Temasek. The pilot found that while Singapore is operationally ready to supply SAF, more is needed to support adoption. Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot, the two airlines within the SIA Group, announced their target of replacing 5% of their total fuel requirements with SAF by 2030. Korean Air has partnered with LX Pantos, a global logistics company, to expand the use of SAF on cargo flights to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. |
A conversation with… Elena Escrivá de Romaní, co-founder of FuelVision. What is FuelVision?
FuelVision is a software and data company dedicated to assisting airlines in reducing their environmental impact through the use of Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) data which reduce fuel consumption, emissions, maintenance, and insurance costs by up to 14%. Our products are designed to help pilots and operational teams in making informed decisions based on data and foster a cultural change, leading to decreased fuel consumption and emissions.
We currently offer two products. The first is a mobile fuel efficiency application focused on pilots. This tool assists pilots in their flight planning and offers valuable feedback post-flight. It allows pilots to analyze their performance and encourages a growth mindset by leveraging their data. This data is strictly confidential, intended exclusively for the pilot's use. The app empowers pilots to make better decisions before, during, and after their flights, enabling them to track and evaluate their progress effectively.
Pilots significantly influence fuel consumption and emissions through their behavior and flying skills. Many pilots mistrust flight planning data, lack reliable sources for fuel-saving best practices, and need feedback tools to assess their performance. Behavioral change, driven by cultural change, is essential to create awareness of the impact of their actions and motivate pilots toward positive impacts. Reliable data, relevant and actionable recommendations, and self-evaluation capabilities enable pilots to practice fuel efficiency techniques effectively.
Fuel efficiency practices are well-known in the industry, but their relevance, execution, external conditions for planning, and impact need clear understanding. We provide crews with crucial information for making decisions, such as when to start the APU, how to perform single-engine taxiing, or optimal flap retraction timing on departure, these are just a few examples.
Our second product targets operational departments, equipping them with tools to manage fleet health efficiently. This facilitates strategic fleet allocation for enhanced production and supports proactive maintenance decisions, ensuring optimal fleet operation, monitoring, and reporting.
Tell us more
Working closely with airlines' SOP, safety, and fuel efficiency managers, we identify areas for optimizing fuel consumption. We've established new fuel efficiency practices, accessible to pilots via our app, tailored to specific routes and flight phases. Our collaboration with Great Dane Airlines resulted in 150 tons of monthly fuel savings using just two aircraft. With Jettime, we continue to achieve consistent monthly savings.
Minimizing aircraft wear and tear also contributes to economic and emission savings. For example, replacing spare parts prematurely due to excessive wear increases environmental impact. We address these issues in our pilot debriefings, encouraging practices that extend aircraft lifespan and reduce maintenance costs.
Our efficiency tool helps pilots in fuel planning and uplift, offering post-flight performance evaluation. The Aircraft Performance Monitoring System helps airlines' operational and maintenance departments comply with and benefit from new EASA 'fuel schemes', which enhance fuel/energy planning, management, and safety standards. These schemes vary in compliance, monitoring effort, and implementation ease, including policies for fuel planning and in-flight management. Our system supports operators in monitoring fuel consumption and fleet health, aligning with EASA's initiatives and choosing the most suitable scheme.
How did it all start?
During the pandemic, like many others, my co-founder and I lost our jobs as pilots. It was then that we met and discussed the efforts to reduce environmental impact within our industry, drawing from our own experiences. This conversation inspired us to adopt a unique approach.
In 2020, we began collaborating with a small Danish airline, Great Dane Airlines. Together, we developed our proof of concept, achieving 14% fuel savings. Subsequently, we joined a cleantech accelerator at DTU (Danish Technical University) and started building our first product. Shortly after, we launched it, quickly gaining the voluntary support of over 80% of our first clients' pilots.
This development made us realize that the industry is evolving, and pilots are not just eager to participate in change, but also to lead it. In our line of work, there are no established feedback mechanisms for pilots. We enable pilots to identify their strengths and weaknesses, offering them individualized, personalized feedback to improve in these areas. Our approach involves working closely with our users to develop the right solutions for them.
What's different about FuelVision?
FuelVision is built by pilots for pilots, and merges expertise in aeronautical engineering, computer science, mathematics, user experience, and operational knowledge. This ensures we create the most effective tools for our users, informed by firsthand feedback and focused on addressing their specific challenges.
We envision an industry that embraces responsibility, characterized by increased transparency in the flight deck, inspired leadership, actionable insights, and reliable data, all while prioritizing safety. Our goal is to empower our colleagues to initiate change directly from the flight deck.
Who are you working with? Can you scale up? What would you say to major airlines?
We are currently collaborating with Jettime, a Danish charter airline, and are achieving significant results. Additionally, we are in the process of onboarding more clients and establishing impactful partnerships within the industry. These partnerships will enable us to reach a broader audience and allow our technology to address a wider range of challenges. We are also open to discussions with other airlines or potential partners interested in our technology.
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