1 Clean Getaway: Meat Waste Joins Biofuels At Luxury Jet Show

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By Allison Lampert

LAS VEGAS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - At the world's greatest industry program in Las Vegas luxury jets are luring buyers with their smooth silhouettes, plush cabins - and increasingly, their use of alternative fuels.

Fuel producers and jetmakers are keen to showcase novel types of air travel fuel considered less hazardous to the climate, from utilized cooking oil to the clearly less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airlines, have bowed to ecological pressure on air travel and dedicated to cutting in half carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that adopting sustainable fuel to curb emissions might make company jets more appealing to environmentally conscious purchasers - specifically corporations dealing with questions over sustainability from shareholders or green campaign groups.

The accessibility of less contaminating private jets might also spare the abundant and well-known the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his better half Meghan over a recent personal jet trip to southern France.

Five Gulfstream jets on display in Las Vegas are using 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 industry," stated Bryan Sherbacow, primary business officer of Boston-based biofuel manufacturer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste used by Gulfstream.

"All of our item is inedible."

A few of the other 79 airplane on display screen are anticipated to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other eco-friendly fuel mixes anticipated to be pumped at the program.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets represent less than 0.1% of overall yearly carbon emissions worldwide, but can release, on average, as much as 20 times more carbon emissions per passenger mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter company Victor.

Prince Harry has actually defended his periodic use of private jets to guarantee his family's safety, and has actually 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 actually included fresh difficulties for a market already striving to justify its contribution to cutting business expenses.

"Incidents of flight shaming involving making use of personal jets are unfortunate when you think about that our industry has actually delivered fuel efficiency improvements of 40% over the past 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel usage will assist the market make inroads with corporations and wealthy purchasers. According to market data, billionaires only have a 19% ownership rate.

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting stickers like "this airplane flies on eco-friendly fuels" and organisers including alternative fuel pumps for checking out aircrafts - is not likely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 luxury jet event.

Environmentalists and some experts remain skeptical that biojetfuels, generally combined 50-50 with kerosene, will make a significant effect on public understandings about high-end travel.

"No quantity of jatropha curcas or Brazil-nut fuel can make service jets look eco-friendly," said aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from business jet operators for eco-friendly fuels now far surpasses supply and their interest might drive future production, Sherbacow said.

World Energy, which produces 40 million gallons of biofuel at its California plant, might broaden production up to 150 million gallons by 2022.

Corporate charter companies and experts are also seeing more interest from consumers who desire to buy carbon credits to balance out emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions played a function in a business jet usage research study his company recently completed for a Fortune 500 company.

"At the end of the day, I believe that price, cost per hour, variety, speed and performance, that's still the (sales) chauffeur. But I think people are ending up being more mindful of the sustainability of operations and how it affects the planet." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)