Acumum Legal & Advisory attended the Corporate Jet Investor (London), held at The Landmark London, 6-8th February 2023. With the glamorous backdrop of the 5-star premises, and an array of discussion panels featuring top-notch speakers, Dr Geraldine Spiteri returned from the event, brimming with excitement.

Business aviation (or bizav) is on the rise. Business jets stepped in during COVID, flying people and supplies at a time when commercial aviation had ground to a halt. For some, there’s no going back to commercial flying. The trend among high-net-worth individuals is to stick to private flying, which means fewer queues, less crowding and greater comfort and privacy while travelling.

Today, bizav provides connections to three times more European destinations than it did just a few years ago. It is responsible for approximately 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, and adds EUR 900 billion to the European GDP. It’s touted as an industry worth investing in.
On the downside, it has a high carbon footprint, but accounts for only 0.04% of annual global emissions.

During the Corporate Jet Investor event protestors disrupted the meeting twice, claiming that private jets are ‘‘obscene’’ and ‘‘a privilege that we cannot afford’’. The protest took place just as one of the sustainability debates had come to a close.

Later we learnt that a spokesperson for Fossil Free London told CJI: “We disrupted your conference because our climate is in crisis, and people around the world are already suffering and dying from the impacts of this crisis, particularly people in the Global South who have done least to cause this crisis and are now suffering from extreme weather, flooding, drought, heatwaves, storms and forest fires.”

During the conference, discussion panels were asked whether the Bizav industry was being unjustly vilified. Among the subjects discussed was the ever-looming issue of the emissions caused by the industry, and the resulting bad press. Indeed, while there is an increased rise in the use of sustainable aviation fuel, it remains extremely expensive. Owners and operators are also investing in neutralising their carbon footprint. While still a polluting industry, the general feeling was one of optimism. As the use of bizav continues to rise, we are hopeful that scientists will find a way to neutralise the carbon, or make the use of replacement fuels possible and of course, feasible.

At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, a target was set to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the US aviation sector by 2050. A large focus of the discussion during the conference centred on sustainable aviation fuel, produced from renewable and waste feedstock, which could have the greatest impact in our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Other discussions centred around the changing trends in the adoption of bizav, both as an investment and as a means of travel. In particular, changing trends in requirements for aircraft, the increased demand for aircraft, and a lack of supply (long lead times for the delivery of newbuilds) led to lengthy and healthy discussions on the industry’s future.

Naturally, the sanctions on Russia were high on the watch list. This has been seen as a creeping web of restrictions, which practitioners from across the industry are observing keenly. A considerable difference has been observed between the EU and the USA as to how to treat aircraft that has a connection with Russia.

The conference was attended by about 580 delegates from all over the world. Some of the world’s largest brands in aviation sponsored the event; aircraft builders, engine builders, maintenance companies, managers and operators, and financial and legal advisors.
Acumum Legal & Advisory’s Marine & Aviation is led by Geraldine Noel.