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

By November, all aircraft delivered from Airbus' U.S. manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama,&nbsp;will come filled with a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) blend. The airframer has struck a deal with Signature Flight Support to provide the SAF—a drop-in replacement for conventional jet-A that offers lifecycle carbon emissions savings—to its A220/A320 final assembly facility at Mobile Downtown Airport (KBFM).

 


“Delivering our Mobile-produced aircraft with SAF is an important, iterative step toward solving the carbon challenge,” said Jeff Knittel, Airbus Americas chairman and CEO, adding that the company is committed to making the fuel's use an everyday reality with increasingly greater production and adoption. “SAF is a positive contributor to enhanced sustainability in aviation since it enables up to an 80 percent reduction of CO2 across the fuel life cycle.”

 


The news follows a similar announcement by Airbus earlier this summer making SAF an option on aircraft deliveries from its Hamburg, Germany production site. Since 2016, the manufacturer's Mobile site has delivered more than 260 aircraft to U.S.-based customers, including 54 this year alone.

 


A Signature spokesman told AIN that while it has supplied SAF to Airbus at KBFM since 2018, the renewable fuel is not yet available for retail sales at the location.

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

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