By Allison Lampert
LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's greatest market program in Las Vegas high-end jets are drawing buyers with their sleek silhouettes, plush cabins - and progressively, their use of alternative fuels.
Fuel manufacturers and jetmakers are eager to showcase unique forms of air travel fuel considered less damaging to the climate, from used cooking oil to the clearly less attractive meat waste.
Business jet operators, like airlines, have bowed to ecological pressure on air travel and devoted to halving carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.
Their hope is that embracing sustainable fuel to suppress emissions could make company jets more appealing to environmentally mindful purchasers - specifically corporations facing concerns over sustainability from shareholders or green project groups.
The availability of less contaminating private jets might also spare the rich and well-known the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan over a current private jet trip to southern France.
Five Gulfstream jets on display in Las Vegas are utilizing California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.
The most current waste-based fuels consist of "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food market," said Bryan Sherbacow, chief commercial officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.
"All of our item is inedible."
Some of the other 79 airplane on display are expected to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other sustainable fuel mixes anticipated to be pumped at the show.
FLIGHT SHAMING
Private jets represent less than 0.1% of total yearly carbon emissions worldwide, however can release, typically, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter company Victor.
Prince Harry has actually safeguarded his occasional usage of private jets to ensure his household's safety, and has said that on the rare celebrations he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.
But planemakers say events such as the furore over his travel plan have added fresh obstacles for an industry already aiming to justify its contribution to cutting corporate expenses.
"Incidents of flight shaming involving using personal jets are unfortunate when you consider that our industry has provided fuel effectiveness improvements of 40% over the past 40 years," stated Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.
Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel use will help the industry make inroads with corporations and wealthy purchasers. According to market data, billionaires only have a 19% service jet ownership rate.
But even an image transformation - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this aircraft flies on sustainable fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for checking out planes - is unlikely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.
Environmentalists and some experts stay skeptical that biojetfuels, normally mixed 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial influence on public perceptions about high-end travel.
"No quantity of jatropha curcas or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly," stated air travel expert Richard Aboulafia.
Demand from company jet operators for renewable fuels now far goes beyond supply and their interest might drive future production, Sherbacow said.
World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, could broaden production as much as 150 million gallons by 2022.
Corporate charter business and consultants are likewise seeing more interest from clients who desire to purchase carbon credits to balance out emissions from their flights.
Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions contributed in a corporate jet utilization research study his company just recently finished for a Fortune 500 business.
"At the end of the day, I believe that cost, cost per hour, range, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) chauffeur. But I believe individuals are ending up being more aware of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the planet." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)
