What do you think of the controversy surrounding business aviation at 2023?
Roch Artheau - Surprisingly, I believe that thebashing" effect on business aviationis having a positive effect. Because it forces us to react, to be even more agile, to transform ourselves and to propose solutions that are truly sustainable with tangible results. At Artheau Aviation, we are seriously committed to decarbonisation.
In what way?
Roch Artheau - We took a training course with Carbone 4, a consultancy firm that helped us to identify and analyse our activities in order to find solutions for reducing our environmental impact. They helped us set up an internal tool for calculating the CO2 emissions of our activities. What was important for us was to understand where we were in our environmental approach and whether we were 'out of line' in our approach. We realised that when we receive customer requests for private jet travel, we have to offer solutions and advice. Advice on the need for such and such a trip, but also to put in place carbon neutralisation solutions that are not simply 'carbon neutral'. green-washing" .
How can we convince people in 2024 that private aviation is not incompatible with the fight against global warming?
Roch Artheau - We explain to our customers that in any type of operation, we can neutralise the ecological impact of fuel consumption. In particular with the use of sustainable fuels (SAF). This is the real issue for us right now. We want to incorporate the possibility of using SAF into our offer. Like, for example, having one third sustainable fuel. In the future, I'm sure we'll have flights using 100% from SAF. The choice is obviously up to the customer. But we have an educational approach to explain the advantages of being as neutral as possible in an operation.
What other consultancy solutions do you offer to reduce Artheau Aviation's carbon footprint?
Roch Artheau - We offer our customers two or three transport solutions. For example, we advise them on type of aircraft to be used when travelling. For example, we recommenduse of turboprop aircraft [editor's note: propeller aircraft]. rather than the usual turbofan engines. A turboprop can help reduce the climatic impact of a flight by a factor of 2 or 3, because aircraft fly at lower altitudes and therefore produce virtually no condensation trails, thereby reducing the greenhouse effect. It is also recommended touse empty leg flightsThese are empty flights when a booked private jet returns to its base. It allows you to maximising aircraft use while offering a preferential tariff. Our role is therefore to aspire to a more virtuous form of business aviation: choice of aircraft, choice of whether or not to use SAF, choice of itinerary. This is what will ensure the future of our sector.
