1 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 most significant market program in Las Vegas luxury jets are luring buyers with their streamlined silhouettes, luxurious cabins - and increasingly, their usage of alternative fuels.

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

Business jet operators, like airline companies, have actually bowed to ecological pressure on aviation and committed to cutting in half carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005.

Their hope is that embracing sustainable fuel to suppress emissions could make service jets more attractive to environmentally mindful purchasers - especially corporations dealing with questions over sustainability from shareholders or green campaign groups.

The availability of less contaminating personal jets might also spare the rich and well-known the unfavorable publicity experienced by Britain's Prince Harry and his better half Meghan over a recent private jet trip to southern France.

Five Gulfstream jets on display in Las Vegas are using California-produced fuel from inedible beef tallow.

The most recent waste-based fuels include "fats, grease and oils that are by-products of the food industry," said Bryan Sherbacow, chief industrial officer of Boston-based biofuel producer World Energy, which produces fuel from meat waste utilized by Gulfstream.

"All of our item is inedible."

Some of the other 79 airplane on screen are expected to be powered by 150,000 gallons of other eco-friendly fuel blends expected to be pumped at the show.

FLIGHT SHAMING

Private jets account for less than 0.1% of total annual carbon emissions worldwide, however can release, on average, as much as 20 times more per traveler mile than jetliners, according to the London-based personal charter company Victor.

Prince Harry has defended his periodic usage of personal jets to guarantee his household's security, and has actually said that on the rare occasions he does not fly commercially he offsets his emissions.

But planemakers say events such as the furore over his travel plan have included fresh challenges for an industry currently making every effort to justify its contribution to cutting business costs.

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

Bombardier believes increased sustainable fuel usage will assist the market make inroads with corporations and rich purchasers. According to industry information, billionaires only have a 19% organization jet ownership rate.

But even an image makeover - with jets sporting stickers like "this aircraft flies on eco-friendly fuels" and organisers adding alternative fuel pumps for visiting airplanes - is not likely to please all critics at the Oct 22-24 high-end jet occasion.

Environmentalists and some experts stay skeptical that biojetfuels, usually mixed 50-50 with kerosene, will make a significant influence on public understandings about luxury travel.

"No quantity of Jatropha or Brazil-nut fuel can make company jets look eco-friendly," said aviation expert Richard Aboulafia.

Demand from service jet operators for sustainable fuels now far surpasses supply and their interest might drive future production, Sherbacow said.

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

Corporate charter companies and consultants are likewise seeing more interest from consumers who wish to buy carbon credits to balance out emissions from their flights.

Brian Proctor, CEO of Mente Group, a U.S. consultancy, stated emissions played a role in a business jet utilization study his business recently completed for a Fortune 500 company.

"At the end of the day, I think that rate, expense per hour, variety, speed and efficiency, that's still the (sales) driver. But I think people are ending up being more knowledgeable about the sustainability of operations and how it impacts the world." (Reporting By Allison Lampert, Editing by Tim Hepher and Alexandra Hudson)