Victor celebrates 500 sustainable aviation fuel bookings

Victor, an on-demand private jet charter company, has announced that following two years in partnership with Neste, a leading producer of SAF, it has achieved 500 consumer SAF bookings. 

According to the company, this not only demonstrates an awareness of emissions and appetite for climate action by flyers, but also the far greater potential for voluntary SAF purchases in aiding aviation’s net zero targets. 

“By voluntarily choosing to buy SAF, our customers are helping to establish a critical new sustainable aviation fuel supply chain. We think the direct-to-consumer voluntary SAF market could raise billions, if a similar proportion of all flyers were able to pay relatively more when they book their commercial flight. Based on the success that we are seeing, we encourage more airlines and aviation businesses to adopt a similar direct-to-consumer model. This is only the beginning,” Toby Edwards, co-CEO Victor said.

Since Victor’s strategic relocation of its global HQ to Abu Dhabi in April 2024 – 6 months after its acquisition by an Abu Dhabi aviation investment group – the team has been committed to aligning with the UAE Net Zero 2050 strategic initiative. 

The company will continue to consider long-term strategies to reduce emissions that limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. Over the next few years, the company aims to continue leading the on-demand jet charter sector’s climate action efforts, offering solutions like SAF directly to private jet customers. 

Victor’s priority over the coming months will be to raise awareness of its pioneering SAF initiative to flyers in the entire GCC region.

Since June 2022, when Victor and Neste launched this first direct-to-consumer SAF blueprint, one in five Victor customers have voluntarily bought on average £950 of Neste MY SAF™ for their private jet charter bookings, with an average emission reduction of 1.5 tonnes per booking. 

The average percentage of fossil fuel voluntarily replaced by SAF per booking is 30 percent. This proves that a significant cohort of flyers will voluntarily take responsibility for their own carbon emissions – and pay more – if offered a credible and transparent solution.

Victor and Neste’s innovative ‘pay here, use there’ solution, which is aligned with science-based targets, has meant that sustainable aviation fuel can now be purchased for any private jet booking worldwide, regardless of the departure airport. This enables the customer to reduce the carbon emissions of their booking by up to 80 percent depending on the amount of Neste MY SAF™ they choose to buy. The model is innovative since volumes of SAF are not yet available at every airport.

“SAF is essential to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050, this immediately reduces life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Neste is committed to supporting aviation’s emission reduction goals and believes that it requires a joint effort where everyone’s choice matters,” Alexander Kueper, Vice President, Renewable Aviation at Neste said.