Aviation, Sustainability and the Environment

SaxonAir Chief Executive Officer Alex Durand Photo credit: SaxonAir While the popular view of aviation, and especially business aviation, casts the industry as an environmental villain, the opposite is closer to the truth. SaxonAir’s quest to tackle the dual challenges of sustainability and resilience resulted in a recent Wild Weekend event, with local companies and organisations joining forces at Norwich Airport. Paul E Eden spoke with SaxonAir CEO Alex Durand to find out more. Alex Durand, CEO of Norwich, UK-based SaxonAir and Vice-Chair of the British Business and General Aviation Association, came to the industry through a route less travelled, starting out on the operations desk at London Oxford Airport and learning the business of aviation from there. A private pilot’s license and flying job followed before Alex’s interest refocussed on operations. He looks back fondly on those early days but admits to learning a few difficult lessons that left him momentarily disillusioned. That dampening of enthusiasm lasted little more than 24 hours though, a new opportunity seeing him immediately reverse his decision to leave the industry. A few years later, the CEO role at SaxonAir was offered and Alex was hooked. Today he brims with an infectious aviation enthusiasm. SaxonAir’s business jets and helicopters share ramp space with helicopters serving North Sea gas operations. Alex is as impassioned on the subject of sustainability as he is aviation, and the irony of those offshore helicopters is not lost on him. But he is also a realist, stressing the importance of doing well that which we can achieve now, rather than waiting only for the ultimate promise of tomorrow. To that extent, he and Wellbeing & Sustainability Manager Rebekah Hill are working hard to achieve and promote sustainable aviation through available technologies in the short-term, while continuing to run a successful business and preparing to embrace tomorrow’s solutions. Alex believes that a sustainable SaxonAir will also be resilient, so while his focus is partly on securing supplies of sustainable aviation fuel, ensuring emissions from flying activities and infrastructure are measured, managed and offset, and offering charging facilities for electric vehicles and aircraft, he also has an eye on the industrywide challenge of recruiting young people. Through these combined sustainability and resilience efforts, Alex quickly realised that SaxonAir was not alone in its quest among local companies and organisations. A significant result of that realisation, the company hosted a Wild Weekend event on 27/28 May, in collaboration with Explorers Against Extinction. Kicked off with a presentation from Explorers Against Extinction at a networking day on 27 May, the event explored the positive contribution of aviation to sustainability and the environment. It also included guest speakers from organisations including NEBOair, which is proving the viability of electric-aircraft passenger operations, and NUNCATS, an organisation pioneering electric aviation within remote communities and among sport flyers, while also promoting and providing opportunities for STEM engagement. Alongside these and other presentations, including a surprising talk from the Chet Vineyard on sustainable wine growing in Norfolk, the SaxonAir hangar hosted displays on sustainable airport infrastructure, an electric Pipistrel aircraft from NEBOair and an impressive array of electric cars from Porsche Centre Norwich. Alex believes the combined challenges of sustainability and resilience are ongoing and to that end, SaxonAir, NUNCATS and the Norwich International Aviation Academy are combining forces this summer to provide hands-on STEM learning, providing local youngsters with the opportunity to become involved in building the UK’s first electric lightplane. Challenges undoubtedly lay ahead, but Alex is optimistic. “I’m as excited as ever about coming in to work every day. It’s good to see change at SaxonAir, but also in the industry. Every day I see so much possibility and I enjoy challenges. The way to achieve the seemingly impossible is always to take the first step.”