Avfuel’s Sawyer says his NBAA-BACE panel sees SAF at every FBO by 2030

The National Business Aviation Association's (NBAA) Business Aviation Sustainability Summit will return to NBAA-BACE 2026. As part of the event, Avfuel Corporation announced that its manager of alternative fuels, Keith Sawyer, will moderate the summit's opening panel discussion on Oct. 21. Avfuel says the conversation has moved beyond whether SAF works in aircraft, and the opening panel will examine how operators and FBOs should prepare for evolving sustainability expectations. The panel is called "Fueling the Future 2.0: Sustainability Strategies for Business Aviation," and will take place at 11 a.m. Pacific in Las Vegas. It will focus on emissions reduction, reporting expectations, emerging regulatory requirements and SAF. The session includes participants from 4AIR, Clay Lacy, The Regulatory Toolbox and Phillips 66. "SAF is already part of business aviation," said Sawyer. "The conversation has moved beyond whether it works in aircraft. Our panel will emphasize how operators need to understand what is happening in the markets where they fly and what practical steps they can take, while FBOs need to be ready for what customers will ask of them—and when. This panel's view is that SAF will be part of every FBO's offering by 2030. Preparing for that future should start well before then." Whether the 2030 view Sawyer attributes to the panel proves accurate or not, it reflects how rapidly expectations are changing around sustainable fuel. That matters because operators increasingly fly between regions subject to different reporting requirements and sustainability initiatives. Decisions made by regulators in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the EU can eventually influence what customers ask for at local airports and FBOs. Operators may still buy aircraft primarily based on capability and economics, but airport and fuel service providers are already making decisions about how future demand could evolve. If customers eventually expect SAF access in the same way they expect Jet A availability today, infrastructure investments will need to happen long before those expectations become universal. For FBOs, that means deciding when to invest. For operators, it means understanding what sustainability requirements may be coming next. Why it matters Business aviation's sustainability conversation is entering a new phase. The industry's largest questions increasingly revolve around access, documentation, infrastructure, and customer demand rather than technical feasibility. As more operators begin incorporating sustainability planning into routine business decisions, fuel suppliers and FBOs are becoming some of the most important participants in the discussion.