Louise Burke Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of SAF Insights. I’m Louise Burke, Senior Vice-President of Oil Products and Global Aviation and Renewables. Joining me today is Keith Sawyer, Manager of Alternative Fuels at Avfuel Corporation. Welcome, Keith.
Keith R. Sawyer Thank you very much, Louise. I really appreciate the opportunity to participate and continue spreading the word about business aviation and sustainable aviation fuel.
Louise Burke That’s great. Keith, could you start by telling us about Avfuel and its current operations?
Keith R. Sawyer Avfuel is a global supplier of aviation fuel and services, with a 100% focus on aviation. In the United States, we are fortunate to have 720 airports flying the Avfuel flag as branded locations. Our company represents around 31% of the market, and Avfuel and its dealers support roughly one-third of daily business aviation flights in the United States.
Louise Burke Those are substantial figures. Please tell us more about the global side of the business.
Keith R. Sawyer We support our customers in 149 countries and at 3,500 fuelling locations. We have been in the SAF business since 2018, when we made our first deliveries to Van Nuys Airport. Our supply chain is fully ISCC-certified, which is very important to our customers.
We are also active participants in business aviation associations, including the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the National Business Aviation Association, the International Business Aviation Council and the National Air Transportation Association. We are fully committed to business aviation’s climate goals. Since the industry began measuring its contribution to climate change, performance has improved rapidly, and we expect that progress to continue.
Louise Burke We recently participated together at the Argus North American Biofuels Conference in Monterey, California. Many attendees flew into Monterey Regional Airport, where SAF is available and Avfuel is involved.
Could you explain when SAF was introduced at the airport and the protocols required to incorporate it into airport operations? It was exciting to see SAF available there, and its importance to business aviation customers was clear.
Keith R. Sawyer We are very proud of our operations at Monterey Regional Airport. The airport serves six airlines, and Delta recently announced flights from Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. It also handles a significant amount of business aviation through two Avfuel-branded fixed-base operators: Monterey Jet Center and Del Monte Aviation.
Monterey is a major destination for business aviation, with a strong base of local tenants, including aircraft operated by some Silicon Valley companies. Traffic is also driven by major events such as the US Open golf championship and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
We began supplying SAF to Monterey and Matt Wright’s operation in 2021. For the first three or four months, we rehearsed the full process: ordering and delivering the fuel, testing it, loading it into aircraft, and checking our point-of-sale, communications and marketing systems. Everything went very well, so we then made the operation fully SAF-enabled.
Today, 40 to 50 customers across the United States take SAF from our supply chain. It is important to remember that the finished product is jet fuel. It meets ASTM D1655 and ASTM D7566 requirements, and the documentation flows through to our customers. Monterey’s leadership helped us extend the offering across our network. We can now supply SAF to every state in the contiguous United States.
Louise Burke You mentioned fuel quality assurance and ASTM certification. Are there any other protocols that help ensure fuel quality and substantiate SAF’s decarbonisation credentials, including ISCC certification?
Keith R. Sawyer The documentation flowing through the supply chain is essential. For every load we receive, we obtain proof of sustainability, product transfer documents and bills of lading. Together, these demonstrate that the fuel meets the relevant standards for production, blending, delivery and ASTM specifications.
That protocol is vital. As you have heard me say, there are no parking spots in the sky. When fuel is loaded onto an aircraft, it must fully comply with all required specifications.
Louise Burke You mentioned blending, which brings us to SAF sourcing. On the West Coast, do you have several supply sources, and what level of commitment are you seeing from them? Could you also explain the logistics, including where blending takes place? My understanding is that SAF cannot be blended at the airport.
Keith R. Sawyer That’s right. SAF is not blended at the airport. Blending takes place at a terminal or refinery. Our suppliers include Neste, the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture between Valero and Darling Ingredients, and Montana Renewables.
These suppliers provide us with blended, certified product and are also ISCC-certified as part of the wider supply chain. We periodically audit the documentation. We collect the finished blend and deliver it directly to our customers.
Louise Burke You have mentioned several leading SAF producers. What other stakeholders have you worked with to support early adoption? Have airports and local communities been involved? More broadly, who needs to endorse SAF and participate across the value chain?
Keith R. Sawyer The value chain starts with the end customer and the decisions that customer makes about greenhouse gas emissions, including how aircraft operations are incorporated into wider ESG or Science Based Targets initiative reporting.
We also spend time with local communities. The United States has around 5,000 public-use airports, only a minority of which receive scheduled commercial airline traffic. The communities surrounding the remaining airports are important stakeholders. At locations such as Monterey and Truckee, community support helps airports continue operating.
Anything we can do, as a supplier and as a partner to fixed-base operators and aircraft manufacturers, to reduce lifecycle emissions is valuable. We have therefore identified a range of stakeholders and engage them through education on sustainability, emissions and the role SAF can play in the market.
Louise Burke That is encouraging for the West Coast. At the conference, we also discussed developing regions, including the Cascadia SAF Accelerator and incentives being introduced in Massachusetts. Where do you see the strongest opportunities for further SAF growth?
Keith R. Sawyer SAF production and blending are likely to grow in regions with ample feedstock supply and access to conventional jet fuel for blending. HEFA-SPK is the dominant production pathway today. Over time, we expect greater use of alcohol-to-jet technology, including fuels produced from purpose-grown crops and other eligible feedstocks.
Growth is therefore likely to continue in California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as along the Gulf Coast. We also expect activity in the Midwest through regional SAF initiatives and in New England through the Massport-led initiative in Massachusetts. These growth areas align well with major business aviation markets, including New York, Florida, Texas and California.
Louise Burke That is useful context. Business aviation has an important role in supporting decarbonisation, and this discussion has provided valuable insight into the logistics and practical implementation needed to bring SAF into the market.
What final steps are needed to improve SAF scalability, and how can the industry continue working together?
Keith R. Sawyer Scaling SAF will depend on predictable and reliable incentives. As discussed at your conference and elsewhere, those incentives can help complete the capital stack and give investors and producers the confidence to take a final investment decision, build facilities and bring SAF to market.
The 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit is one example, while states are also introducing incentives based on production or consumption. These measures can materially affect the economics of neat SAF. The industry needs a clear, long-term line of sight on support so that investors and lenders can make decisions with confidence.
Louise Burke Thank you, Keith. That was also a clear theme at the conference. This has been a very helpful discussion. If you enjoyed this podcast, please listen to other episodes in our SAF Insights series. For more information on Argus’ global coverage of sustainable aviation fuel markets, visit argusmedia.com. Thank you.
Keith R. Sawyer Thank you, Louise.
