Gulfstream and Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) last Sunday completed a flight across the Atlantic with both engines running on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The flight, performed by a Gulfstream G600, took 6 hours and 56 minutes, taking off from Savannah, GA, and landing at Farnborough in the UK.
Most SAF flights up until now have used a blend of SAF and conventional jet fuel, but the trans-Atlantic flight was powered by two P&WC PW815GA jet engines burning only SAF made from hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA).
“Gulfstream is innovating for a sustainable future,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “One of the keys to reaching business aviation’s long-term decarbonization goals is the broad use of SAF in place of fossil-based jet fuel.
"The completion of this world-class flight helps to advance business aviation’s overarching sustainability mission and create positive environmental impacts for future generations.”
Anthony Rossi, vice president of Sales & Marketing at P&WC said the company had its sights on 100% SAF as a way of meeting net-zero CO2 emissions targets.
"Collaborating with airframe manufacturers such as Gulfstream is an important part of our long-standing efforts to ensure SAF compatibility across all our engines, which have already been certified to operate with up to 50% SAF blends for more than a decade," he said.
"With this transatlantic flight, we are effectively demonstrating both engine and aircraft functionality in a fully operational setting to support future specifications for 100% SAF, which will be critical to achieving a more sustainable future of net-zero CO2 emissions for aviation in the decades ahead.
"Future 100% SAF operational approval will add to the versatility, reliability, and fuel efficiency of the PW815GA engine to benefit Gulfstream and our customers."
The fuel was produced by World Energy and supplied to Gulfstream by World Fuel Services.
Neat HEFA has at least 70% lower lifecycle CO2 emissions than fossil-based jet fuel. Additionally, this zero-added aromatics fuel has a reduced impact on local air quality and very low sulphur content, which can reduce non-CO2 environmental impacts.
“Gulfstream continues to break new ground in the sustainable aviation space,” said Rossi, "and we applaud them for completing this mission as we work to validate the compatibility of our engines with unblended SAF.”