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 biggest industry show in Las Vegas high-end jets are luring purchasers with their sleek shapes, luxurious cabins - and increasingly, their usage of alternative fuels.

Fuel producers and jetmakers are keen to display unique forms of aviation fuel deemed less harmful to the climate, from utilized cooking oil to the definitely less glamorous meat waste.

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have acquiesced ecological pressure on air travel and committed to cutting in half carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.

Their hope is that adopting eco-friendly fuel to curb emissions could make service jets more attractive to ecologically mindful buyers - particularly corporations dealing with questions over sustainability from investors or green campaign groups.

The schedule of less contaminating personal jets could also spare the rich and famous the unfavorable promotion experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his partner Meghan over a recent personal jet journey 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 byproducts of the food market," said Bryan Sherbacow, primary business officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste used by Gulfstream.

"All of our product is inedible."

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

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets represent less than 0.1% of total annual carbon emissions globally, but can release, usually, up to 20 times more carbon emissions per mile than jetliners, according to the London-based private charter company Victor.

Prince Harry has protected his periodic usage of personal jets to ensure his family's safety, and has said that on the rare celebrations he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers state occurrences such as the furore over his travel plan have actually added fresh difficulties for an industry currently aiming to validate its contribution to cutting corporate costs.

"Incidents of flight shaming including using personal jets are unfortunate when you consider that our industry has actually delivered fuel efficiency enhancements of 40% over the past 40 years," said Bombardier Aviation President David Coleal.

Bombardier thinks increased sustainable fuel use will help the industry make inroads with corporations and rich buyers. According to industry information, billionaires just have a 19% business jet ownership rate.

But even an image transformation - with jets sporting sticker labels like "this airplane flies on renewable fuels" and organisers including alternative fuel pumps for going to aircrafts - is unlikely to satisfy all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some analysts remain doubtful that biojetfuels, generally blended 50-50 with kerosene, will make a substantial impact on public perceptions about luxury travel.

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

Demand from business jet operators for sustainable fuels now far goes beyond supply and their interest could drive future production, Sherbacow stated.

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

Corporate charter business and experts are likewise seeing more interest from clients 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 contributed in a business jet usage research study his business just recently finished for a Fortune 500 business.

"At the end of the day, I think that price, expense per hour, range, speed and efficiency, that's still the (sales) motorist. But I believe people are becoming more familiar with the sustainability of operations and how it affects the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)