Sustainable Skies: The Future of Private Aviation

Transcript

Sustainable Skies: The Future of Private Aviation

With electrification of flight, we can make aircraft that are quieter that are cleaner and lower cost 80% of the travelers on a private jet today is between 40 to 60 years old We did not see this generation before COVID Our aircraft has six propellers that allow it to take off vertically like a helicopter Those propellers can tilt forward and then when it's cruising it's flying on a wing just like an airplane The biggest challenge in the private aviation is a sustainable emission of fuel self-fuel We are facing difficulty in availability of this product plus the price One kilogram of hydrogen contains 100 times as much energy as one kilogram of the state-of-the-art battery cells Hydrogen also has three times the specific energy of jet fuel

Hello I'm Tom Parker and welcome to The Next Five podcast brought to you by the FT partner studio In this series we ask industry experts about how their world will change in the next five years and the impact it will have on our day to day In this episode we look at the future of private aviation exploring the trends sustainability challenges and the technologies that could power flight in the future Across October 2025 315000 private flights departed worldwide a 5% increase on 2024 While this is less than 1% of monthly commercial flights globally private jet travel is still on the rise The COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in private travel for health reasons and with hybrid working now popular private business travel is gaining momentum But there are many areas the industry needs to focus on over the next five years to maintain growth But before we forge ahead let's look back at the industry's evolution over the last five years

The major change have been in our industry is what happened after COVID This is Adel Mardini CEO of JetEx a private aviation company based in Dubai with fixed based operators and ground handling stations in over 50 locations worldwide We have a lot of clients who move from commercial airlines to private aviation after COVID Before COVID people enjoying flying first class business class but when the airport has been closed when the commercial airlines stop flying to major destination so the people has no choice and they want to operate This is why they move to private aviation I'll give you an example We had 300% growth before COVID comparing with after COVID And most of the passengers who move from commercial airlines and affairs and business class to move to private aviation they keep flying to private aviation And for them coming back to first class and business class is downgrade So I'll give you an example If you fly Dubai London Dubai for three days for 10 passengers you are spending around $150000 for round trip which means almost $7500 per round trip If you go on MRSA airlines flying the same you are spending 10 to $12000 for first class So if you are flying alone different when you're flying with a group So the concept and the philosophy has been changed for the traveler And you see these people like bringing now their family friend entourage to fly in private jet as well If you go to any five stars hotel today the guests spending $15000 for residential suite per 24 hours But when you are flying private jet we're spending the same amount per hour A massive difference in this industry So privacy safety security this is a difference And the most important valuable thing is the timing So the minute the plane door open the team has 10 minutes to escort the guests to be in the car For departure we need 15 to 20 minutes

One trend in the private aviation space is the changing face of ownership Fractional ownership has increased about 67% year on year as customers want flexibility and privacy while sharing the cost of owning a private jet Charters are also growing According to Mordor Intelligence the global private jet charter services market is expected to grow from $174 billion in 2025 to $334 billion by 2030 at a CAGA of nearly 14% Customer base we see big change of the ownership to charter We see most of developers prefer to charter either to buy ours or to buy on demand So based on the flight this industry keep growing day by day We are airboat operator this is our core business And based on the client behavior they don't prefer to own a plane They just prefer to charter a plane Owning plane module we see is more familiar in the US market There's net jet which is fractional ownership This is the major one And there's a couple of companies selling ours such as VistaJet But in general there's a lot of company working as well to do on-demand chartering which is like you can call them any time and you charter aircraft for five to six hours So it doesn't mean that you have to buy share of the plane or buy ours But yes we see massive change on the client behavior And most of them they prefer to be in the charter side not owning the plane Unless there's another reason such as like they want more privacy they want their own design of the plane This is a different story

When it comes to full ownership of aircraft the demographic of customers is also updating with the times From 2018 to 2023 buyers below the age of 45 increased by 28% This demographic change of wealth and customer is mirrored across the industry We have a new consumer have a new generation of the people flying PrivateJet who flew PrivateJet before COVID was Oil and gas government official very selected families today Crypto fashion tech celebrities influencer totally client-ed Before who flew PrivateJet age-wise between 50 to 80 today we see 40 to 60 80% of the travelers on PrivateJet today is between 40 to 60 years old We did not see this generation before COVID Based on the latest study the projection of luxury hospitality which we are part of it the total spend of luxury hospitality in 2023 was $235 billion while the projection for 2028 was $391 billion So more spending Middle East 2023 consumed 11% out of this number In 2028 they reached 23% Asia had 37% and the projection to reach 41% in the coming three years So we see more luxury spending in this region and Asia Based on the study that McKenzie did the number in Europe will drop from 19% to 12% of the spending in the coming three years while the number in Asia and Middle East were picking up So we see the change on destination We see people more spending money on the experience such as PrivateJet the yacht more than spending money on the hotels This is what we can see it and it's coming Most of the people they don't rent a villa or go to the hotel in the summer anymore They prefer to go to the yacht but how to go to the yacht by PrivateJet So more spending on experience than the destination

Now to the topic of sustainability Private aviation is trying to shake the dark cloud of CO2 emissions that comes with it In numbers it's about 36 tons of carbon dioxide per flight which would take 36 acres of forest one year to sequester Per passenger private aviation can be five to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights depending on the airframe used So there is much to be done to reduce the climate impact of private air travel One way to do this is using sustainable aviation fuels or SAF SAF fuels are made from oils or fats like cooking oils or made from agricultural forestry and municipal waste which is then blended with conventional jet kerosene If SAF completely replaces kerosene up to 70% of GHG emissions can be saved across the life cycle The biggest challenge in the private aviation is a sustainable aviation of fuel SAF fuel We are facing difficulty in availability of this product plus the price We were in a position to arrange SAF fuel for many of our clients especially Corbett client government client We did the same during COP 28 in Dubai and we are going to arrange it in Dubai Air Show as well here in Dubai The price is five times of the original prices The average fuel price is around $25 to $3 while the SAF fuel is $15 to $18 This absolutely is five times of the original price Number one number two availability For example the quantity that we secure for Dubai Air Show is sold out Arranging another quantity takes months and not every single supplier has this type of a fuel Do we have demand for this one Yes we have Many of the Corbett client they prefer to use SAF fuel based on their CSR responsibility And we as a part of the ecosystem we're doing this one But there's a massive challenge of availability and the price For example the commercial airlines will not use SAF fuel Massive impact on the prices then any passenger will not be affected You have to know one thing the fuel is consuming 50% of cost of any flight hours 50% So the fuel is a major part of any expenses So when we spoke about $15000 per hour cost we are talking about at least $5000 to $6000 the cost of fuel So can you imagine this is based on $3 a gallon Can you imagine if multiply by $15 or $18 so the flight hour will cost $30000 to $40000 So the challenge is availability There is a demand but not for the commercial airlines We have to speak with the fuel supplier the major fuel supplier in the world what their plan in order to make this product available

While SAF helps reduce emissions a future of zero emission flight will require major technological advancements US-based firm Joby Aviation became the first EVITOL electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi to fly in New York City in November 2023 and is set to launch in Dubai in early 2026 Aimed at reducing the need for long road transport to and from airports Joby will carry a pilot and four passengers from Dubai International Airport to Palm Jumeirah in 10 minutes versus that of a 45 minute journey by road 16 years ago I founded Joby Aviation to transform the way we move around on a daily basis This is Joe Ben Bevert founder and CEO of Joby Aviation My thesis from when I was in college in 1993 was that we could build electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that were quiet that were safe and that were affordable and transform our daily transportation So our aircraft has six propellers that allow it to take off vertically like a helicopter Those propellers can tilt forward and then when it's cruising it's flying on a wing just like an airplane So you can think of it like a helicopter in that ability to take off and land vertically but like an airplane with the efficiency of being able to fly on a wing

There are four battery packs that distribute power to the six motors and each motor is actually two separate motors So you have six propellers driven each by a separate motor by a separate battery pack and it's layer on layer of redundancy to try to drive the kinds of safety we see in large commercial flights into smaller aircraft The reason this is a game changer from a sustainability standpoint is it's battery electric and that allows us to provide vertical takeoff and landing flights across cities with zero operating emissions With electrification of flight we can make aircraft that are quieter that are cleaner and lower cost The aircraft are more reliable and allows us to make flight with small aircraft accessible to many more people and for many more trips The core reason why we think this is so important is saving people's time So ground transportation is very constrained by the existing road network and in many cities around the world you have so much growth that the road networks can't keep up and so you have horrible congestion With our aircraft our goal is to deliver people to their destinations five times faster than they can by moving on the ground The first one we're certifying is piloted just like a helicopter today but we've also been investing for more than five years now on developing world leading autonomous flight capabilities And at the end of October we were selected by NVIDIA to be the aviation launch partner for their next generation hardware platform

While battery electric air taxis solve the quick trip to reach zero emissions for longer haul flights will require a different fuel cell French startup Beyond Aero is one of the leaders in electrifying private aviation by using 100% green hydrogen With a predicted range of over 800 miles its aim is to provide medium range private business travel while reducing CO2 emissions to zero With nearly half of all private flights below 500 kilometers this will reduce emissions considerably Joby Aviation is also pioneering its own hydrogen-based Evatol aircraft which in July 2024 completed a landmark 523 mile flight with water as the only by-product One of the elements that I became very excited about was the maturation process that hydrogen electric flight was going through And so five years ago we began investing heavily in the development of hydrogen electric propulsion technologies Hydrogen has 100 times the specific energy of the batteries that we fly today One kilogram of hydrogen contains 100 times as much energy as one kilogram of the state-of-the-art battery cells Hydrogen also has three times the specific energy of jet fuel With fuel cells we can convert hydrogen into propulsion twice as efficiently as a small turbine can convert jet fuel into propulsion So you get a 3X and a 2X multiplied together And what that means is that the mass of the fuel with hydrogen is up to six times lighter than the mass of the fuel for jet fuel If you want to build an aircraft that can fly long distances or that can fly for long duration stay up in the air for a long period of time hydrogen is a game changer And it's going to enable us to build new classes of aircraft that were never possible before making aircraft that are zero emissions but also have greater range which are dramatically lower operating cost and consume far less energy because the aircraft can be substantially lighter and can carry a lot more payload for a given gross weight of aircraft

So the most important hydrogen aircraft to build are the ones with the longest range And those are also the ones in the aviation business today that are the most expensive So if you look at a long haul commercial aircraft it might carry twice as many passengers but weigh four times as much and cost four times as much So it actually costs twice as much per passenger When you look at a private jet you might be looking at a $60 $70 $80 $90 million aircraft that has the ability to fly long distances whereas shorter range jets might cost you $10 or $20 million And so this is an extraordinarily exciting opportunity for hydrogen propulsion to look at how do we make these really long range private aircraft truly sustainable Long haul private flights are still in their infancy and technological breakthroughs will have to be realised before the globe is truly connected by efficient emissions-free private transport We have the technology today and it's just a question of how rapidly we can bring it to market Most aviation aircraft companies today they're air framers They buy an engine from supplier A they buy some landing gear from supplier B they buy some avionics from supplier C they design the airframe and they either build it or outsource the construction of it to others and then they assemble it all together At Joby we design build and test the vast majority upwards of 90% of the components and systems on the aircraft And that vertical integration allows us to improve the technology with subsequent iterations improve the reliability with subsequent iterations and to rapidly mature and hone these next generation technologies You've seen the impact that this kind of vertical integration has had in companies like Tesla in companies like SpaceX in companies like DJI and drones where by having a vertical integrated company where you're designing building and testing you can over subsequent iterations develop really game changing new hardware technologies

One of the big challenges in the element that we're pushing on really aggressively right now is scaling manufacturing As a new aviation company we have an ambition to manufacture very very large quantities of these aircraft larger quantities than have ever been manufactured in aviation before And as a result one of the key elements in our journey was that we brought Toyota in and Toyota is known around the world for both being the world's largest automaker but also for the quality and reliability of the products that they build And it has been incredible to have Toyota engineers working shoulder to shoulder here in California with the Joby engineers optimizing our manufacturing processes And we're now really into the core of that the push where we're rapidly scaling our manufacturing team and scaling the number of aircraft that we can spin off the line And so we think this is just an incredibly exciting time but also it's a really heavy lift

So what does the next five years look like for private aviation and the quest for more sustainable skies First up is Adel For the coming five years we see like destination will be changed people more flying to Middle East and Asia A lot of ultra high individual people they move to be located in this region We expect to have like more self-fuel in the market as well for the coming five years I hope that we as a part of the ecosystem to convince everyone to move towards self-fuel I see more people get used about private aviation and I don't see them coming back to the commercial analysis If you see the new configuration for the 350 or 787 every single airline they focus about economy premium economy and business class So 35% of the investment in the commercial airlines now going for a premium economy There's a difference between economy and the business and they cut the first class Only few of the airlines in the world is still investing in the first class cabinet somehow doing MRS and the Tihad But the rest no They focus about premium economy business This is why I'm extremely confident that more guests coming to our industry going to private aviation And I expect this industry will grow every year 10 to 15% at least for the coming five years

When we speak about electrical flight I question about the cars 10 15 years ago when you spoke with anyone about okay about the electrical cars I said not possible Now it's like more than 30% of the car on the street is electrical car So same now when we question and we spoke about a client about like electrical planes you're like is this going to happen So starting by EVTOL is a big step and offering the client to fly in this new technology which is like I'm extremely confident that the client looking forward to start flying this one I believe next step to have electrical plane as well which will fly for short short range long range full range And based on the technology I don't see this will be impossible but I believe it will take time Our target to align more on sustainability in our industry and the latest partnership that we did with Juby is aligned with our vision to invest more in this direction We'll be in a partnership with them in order to expand the ecosystem the infrastructure for them And this is part of sustainability of in our philosophy in the company We signed as well with World Economic Forum as a part of their program of AirBot for Tomorrow as well in order to work with a partner fuel supplier AirBot and the commercial allies to support the philosophy and the direction of World Economic Forum for sustainability not only the aviation fuel for sustainability for the entire industry

And now Jobin I think that over the next five years you're going to see hydrogen electric flight go from being a fringe thought that is discounted by the vast majority of the aviation industry to the industry realizing what a game changer it is and game changer not just from a sustainability standpoint but also in allowing us to build aircraft that are dramatically more performant and more cost effective Sustainability and hydrogen electric flight are at the core of the reason that I get up every morning and I care deeply about sustainability I remember I was at the COP in Denmark in 2009 and feeling acutely disappointed that we had not been able to come together as an international community to really align on our sustainability goals and then at many subsequent COPs In 2009 I came away with the realization that it was going to be individuals and companies that were going to really do the heavy lifting that we're going to do the innovating to transform the climate trajectory we're on And that was one of the foundational elements in my decision to found Joby Aviation and to transform aviation from one of the most climate challenged transportation industries to one that is zero emissions Unfortunately because of the challenge of scaling manufacturing this is not a two three four year journey I've been on this journey for decades and this is a journey that's likely going to take decades more to reach the kind of scale that I and many others in this industry are dreaming of where we are replacing substantial portions of people's daily mobility

Private aviation is not for everyone which is perhaps the point But for those who can the demographic of which is changing the world is their caviar topped oyster The one thing that the highest echelon of travel truly saves you is time perhaps society's most valuable commodity But it could save the planet also albeit with a lot of help from friends Private flights are not sustainable when it comes to emissions but then the commercial aviation industry isn't either In 2023 97 million liters of sustainable aviation fuel was consumed across the entire aviation industry which is less than 003% of standard global jet fuel used in the same year As Adele said it comes down to cost and availability of SAF To reduce the climate impact of private and indeed commercial aviation operators airports and customers need to work together to decrease the cost and increase the availability of SAF But flight plans are being plotted for a greener future up there in the big blue Battery-powered EVA toll and hydrogen-electric flight are taxiing and ready for takeoff But like any other new sustainable tech manufacturing capabilities and economies of scale hold the final say as to whether zero-emissions flight will be held on the runway longer than we would all desire