Gulfstream makes first carbon-neutral flights

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. today announced the Gulfstream G650ER™, Gulfstream G600™, Gulfstream G500™, Gulfstream G550™ and Gulfstream G280™ made the company's first carbon-neutral flights, traveling from Savannah to the Las Vegas area for the 2019 National Business Aviation Association Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE). The five flights were made using a combination of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and carbon offsets.

"Gulfstream already designs extremely fuel-efficient, quiet aircraft capable of using sustainable aviation fuel, which we offer to customers and use regularly for our corporate operations, so using carbon offsets was the natural next step to advancing and elevating our sustainability commitment," said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. "Reducing our industry's carbon footprint is paramount for ensuring a sustainable future for aviation."

Gulfstream's fleet flew to Henderson Executive Airport near Las Vegas on a 30/70 blend of low-carbon, drop-in SAF and traditional, petroleum-based Jet A fuel. The emissions associated with using 70 percent Jet A were more than offset by the company's purchase, for a per-flight-hour fee, of verified emission reduction credits through a third-party offset provider. The offsets represented more than 200 percent of the carbon emitted during the trip.

After NBAA-BACE, set for October 22 through 24, the Gulfstream fleet will fly back to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport on SAF and carbon offsets.

"The offset provider we are using supports projects and technologies that reduce environmental effects worldwide," Burns said.

Gulfstream's sustainability strategy helps support the business aviation industry goals established by the NBAA, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the International Business Aviation Council. In addition to the goal of carbon-neutral growth by 2020, the industry-wide targets include an improvement in fuel-efficiency and a reduction in total carbon dioxide emissions.

Since 2016, Gulfstream has used SAF in daily operations for its corporate, demonstration, Customer Support and Flight Test fleets. The company has made more than 500 flights on SAF, totaling nearly 1 million nautical miles/1.9 million kilometers and saving approximately 1,200 metric tons of CO₂. In addition to using SAF at its Savannah headquarters, Gulfstream sells SAF to customers at its Long Beach, California, facility, where it is also used for all Completions and delivery flights.