Gulfstream Aerospace has made its first sale of sustainable alternative jet fuel (SAJF) to a G550 operated by a U.S.-based multinational corporation, the Savannah, Georgia-based airframer announced today. The customer purchased 20,000 pounds of SAJF from Gulfstream’s Long Beach, California facility. 

The sale comes about six weeks after Gulfstream participated in an industry-sponsored event, Business Jets Fuel Green: A Step Toward Sustainability, at Van Nuys Airport (VNY) in California. For that event, Gulfstream set a city-pair record, flying its SAJF-fueled G280 from Savannah to Van Nuys. “This sale is a direct result of our efforts to increase the visibility and availability of sustainable alternative jet fuel for our customers,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “We are committed to helping promote increased use of SAJF throughout the industry.”

Gulfstream announced at the VNY event that it would sell SAJF to its customers from its Long Beach location beginning this year. California-based World Energy, which has a refinery about 10 miles from Gulfstream’s facility at Long Beach Airport, provides SAJF to Gulfstream. It was available earlier than Gulfstream expected for the first sale, the manufacturer noted. 

For the past seven years, Gulfstream has used a 30/70 blend of low-carbon, drop-in SAJF and jet-A for operations at its Savannah headquarters. And in the past three years, it has been using SAJF with its corporate, demonstration, and flight test aircraft. SAJF meets the same fuel specifications as jet-A and offers equivalent performance, Gulfstream said. It added that each gallon of SAJF burned achieves more than a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to petroleum-based jet fuel, on a life-cycle basis.

Large-cabin completions flights departing from Gulfstream’s Long Beach site will also begin using SAJF, the company said. “We look forward to the day this fuel is commonplace in our industry and we are all doing our part to reduce emissions worldwide,” Burns added.