One of the major topics of discussion in business aviation in 2019 focused on the acceptance and use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), an effort that is expected to continue in 2020. At an event at Los Angeles business aviation hub Van Nuys a year ago, industry stakeholders gathered for "Business Jets Fuel Green: A Step Towards Sustainability," marking the first time SAF was made available for retail sale to aircraft operators. Avfuel and World Fuel Services provided a combined more than 14,000 gallons of blended fuel produced by World Energy and Gevo to the FBOs on the field.

For ABACE 2020 in Shanghai, the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA) is looking to have the business aircraft fly to the show on SAF, just as they did for last year’s EBACE.

Keith Sawyer, Michigan-based Avfuel’s manager of alternative fuels expects such events to continue. “No doubt industry-wide, both in Europe and North America there will be more demonstrations, more companies getting familiar with the logistics and trying to do their best to meet the awareness and demand potentially arising from business aviation customers,” he told AIN.

With several new SAF biorefineries slated to come online towards the end of 2020, Sawyer sees a possible increase in availability, particularly on the West Coast of the U.S. where several states have enacted low carbon fuel standard credits to help offset the current price delta between SAF and conventional Jet A in an attempt to spur demand. “I’m cautiously optimistic that potentially some FBOs may have it on a more ratable basis on the availability of the product,” he explained, adding that logistical hurdles still need to be worked through before the renewable fuel becomes more commonly widespread. “The airlines like to get as much of their product by pipeline as they can, whereas business aviation, corporate aviation is probably 95 percent, at least in the U.S. and Canada, supplied by truck.”

While the SAF market is still in its infancy, Sawyer sees it following the same path as other recent fuels such as ethanol or biodiesel. “Demand is there, supply becomes available, supply grows, access to the supply increases and the logistics become progressively more economical.”

Consolidation Continues

The FBO industry will continue to undergo change as service providers fueled by private equity funding, keep the consolidation pot simmering. More and more FBO chains such as Atlantic Aviation, Ross Aviation, Lynx FBO, Modern Aviation and Hawthorne Global Aviation Services are controlled by investment firms that will continue to look to grow them. Industry consultant Stephen Dennis expects to see some churn over the next several years as some of those players exit the market, while other, larger financial-capacity companies enter with the goal of expanding their FBO portfolios.

Dennis noted that smaller chains such as privately held Tac Air and Sheltair are still controlled by their operationally strong and financially solid founders, and predicted they are not likely to succumb to the approaches of private equity.

IS-BAH To Expand

The International Standard for Business Aviation Handling (IS-BAH) a program of industry best practices sponsored by the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) will continue to expand its industry acceptance, increasing from the 209 locations that have joined since its inception in 2014.

“What remains heartening for us all is that, for what is still a purely voluntary program, we continue to see organizations that choose to take a step up above and beyond their peers, and show they want to place safety as a core value in their support of our sector,” said IS-BAH program director Terry Yeomans. “We hope to continue to grow the number of locations at Stage 1 slowly and steadily over the next 12 months.”

Data Driven

Another area where FBOs will change is in how they view their customers, according to Douglas Wilson, president of industry consultancy FBO Partners.

“I think we’ll start to see some savvy FBOs shift their focus toward passenger engagement in the coming year,” he told AIN, adding that collecting data about passenger preferences will become essential for FBOs to build relationships with them, and ultimately, influence purchasing decisions. “One FBO’s based customers are another FBO’s transient customers and vice versa; the data is there, one only needs a process to collect it and a database to store it.”