A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

A recent report from investment analyst Jefferies shows that not all sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are the same in terms of its environmental benefits, which can vary significantly depending on which of 11 approved pathways is used to produce them.
Jefferies based its findings on a discussion it hosted with International Air Transport Association (IATA) SAF specialist Daniel Bloch on policy approaches for increasing SAF production and availability. With a wide variety of feedstocks available, some production pathways—and the feedstocks they use—offer significantly better CO2 reduction in their lifecycles, Bloch noted.
For example, using new vegetable oil (as opposed to used cooking oil) as a feedstock for the HEFA process provides only up to a 20 percent savings in carbon emissions compared to Fischer-Tropsch-derived SAF from CO2 and hydrogen using renewable energy, which could bring that number to near 100 percent savings.
Most existing SAF production refineries are using the HEFA process. The report pointed out that while new projects using alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) and Fischer-Tropsch pathways have higher initial capital costs, their operational costs are lower. As a result, production facilities based on those technologies will take longer to achieve scale production. However, according to IATA, these are key to generating increasing volumes of SAF because their third-generation feedstocks are less constrained.
SAF will play a large role in IATA’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 and is predicted to provide 65 percent of the overall emission reduction equation. The organization notes that the supply of the fuel will be heavily region-specific, and it is currently not scaled sufficiently to be cost-competitive with conventional jet-A. Bloch sees 2025 as a potential turning point in SAF production, with European policy measures such as the <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-06-05/uk-proposes-sustainable-aviation-fuel-mandate-2025">UK SAF blending mandate</a> and <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2023-06-19/eu-sets-worlds-largest-saf-blending-mandate">ReFuel EU</a> set to commence.

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

Jefferies: Some Sustainable Aviation Fuels Are Greener Than Others

Report shows the amount of lifecycle CO2 emissions savings can vary greatly

A report from Jefferies shows that not all sustainable aviation fuel is the same in terms of its environmental benefits, which can vary significantly.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

The report sees the Midwest as a future hotbed of SAF production

Environmental Group Sees U.S. e-Fuel Potential

Kerry Lynch

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

NBAA called a study suggesting business aviation emissions will need to be regulated 'misleading' 

NBAA Challenges Study Highlighting Bizav Emissions

NASA's Gulfstream G-III will use lidar technology to scan contrails of GE's Boeing 747

NASA and GE Plan Flight Tests To Study Contrails

Charles Alcock

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

Project also includes Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Honeywell Aerospace, and American Airlines, plus MIT and University of Michigan

NASA Contracts Electra for AACES Sustainable Airliner Program

New developments at airports including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

4,000 solar panels have been fitted on buildings across the London-area facility

Solar Generates 25% of Farnborough's Electric Power

Matt Thurber

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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Environmental Group Sees U.S. e-Fuel Potential

The report sees the Midwest as a future hotbed of SAF production

NBAA Challenges Study Highlighting Bizav Emissions

NBAA called a study suggesting business aviation emissions will need to be regulated 'misleading'

NASA and GE Plan Flight Tests To Study Contrails

NASA's Gulfstream G-III will use lidar technology to scan contrails of GE's Boeing 747

NASA Contracts Electra for AACES Sustainable Airliner Program

Project also includes Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Honeywell Aerospace, and American Airlines, plus MIT and University of Michigan

Solar Generates 25% of Farnborough's Electric Power

4,000 solar panels have been fitted on buildings across the London-area facility

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High-octane unleaded avgas is becoming more available in California

Minnesota Selected for SAF Production Site

DG Fuels plans for the $5 billion production facility to be operational by 2030

Still In Its Infancy, SAF Growing by Leaps and Bounds

With jet-A holding a 75-year head start over SAF, it will take time to catch up

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