A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

Germany has made the largest public funding award in Europe to date, awarding €350 million (more than $412 million) for a synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) project using the power-to-liquid production (PtL) pathway.&nbsp;The German federal government and the state of Brandenburg have committed this funding toward the more than €500 million Brandenburg eSAF project slated for development at the PCK Refinery in Schwedt,.
To be built by Enertrag and Zaffra (a joint venture between Danish clean energy technology firm Topsoe and South Africa’s fuel conglomerate Sasol), the project is scheduled for completion in 2030, by which point it will represent one of the most advanced PtL facilities in Europe, and one capable of producing 30,000 tonnes of eSAF a year, approximately 25% of the country’s eSAF blending obligation under the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation.
The grant award was presented by Katherina Reiche, Germany’s federal minister for economic affairs and energy, and Brandenburg minister-president Dietmar Woidke.
“What matters now is to permanently stabilize the energy supply at PCK and in the region, to strengthen growth potential in a targeted way, and to stimulate new investment,” Reiche said. “The Brandenburg eSAF project we are funding is a central pillar of this effort: it combines industrial strength with innovation, opens up new value chains, and creates long-term prospects for employment, prosperity, and energy security.”

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

Germany Commits €350 Million to Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project

Grant represents one of the largest in Europe to date

Germany has pledged €350 million toward the construction of a second-generation sustainable aviation fuel facility.

Germany Commits €350 Million to eSAF Project

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Charlotte Bailey

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

Unither Bioélectronique expands envelope of experimental aircraft 

Modified R44 Flies Hydrogen-electric Helicopter Circuit

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

Environmental research program had already used three quarters of previously agreed funding

UK’s FAAM Research Aircraft Formally Ceases Operations 

Charles Alcock

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Industry calls for changes to Refuel EU rules

SAF Mandate Complicates European Bizav’s Green Intentions

Technology to fly onboard clean-sheet, all-electric, ducted-fan gyrocopter 

DLR Tests Experimental Vibrational Anti-Icing System  

Measure could spur further growth in the SAF industry

NBAA Applauds House Passage of Pro-SAF Legislation

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

EU Court to decide if industry is “an environmentally sustainable economic activity."

EU Court Set to Rule on Business Aviation's Sustainability Status

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

The California FBO/MRO wants to grow sustainably

Desert Jet Partners with 4Air on Sustainability Efforts

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

News about simulators and training procedures, as well as workforce.

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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