Victor leads transformation in MENA private aviation sector enabling all flyers across both business and commercial aviation to credibly reduce their carbon emissions from flying

Victor announced its commitment to delivering its pioneering climate action strategy in the MENA region. Together with partner Neste, the world’s leading producer of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), the sector leader is committed to transforming the business aviation landscape in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, by leveraging its learnings from nearly two years’ success in offering SAF directly to private jet flyers worldwide. Focusing on a continued campaign of education and awareness, Victor aims to shift the needle on two core metrics: driving an uplift in voluntary SAF demand from the region’s business aviation flyers and encouraging the adoption of its SAF blueprint by other business and commercial aviation companies across MENA. Having recently relocated its headquarters to Abu Dhabi from the UK, Victor is deepening its commitment to the region and reinforcing its strategic focus on climate action within the MENA markets. The company will build on the success of its ‘Pay Here, Use There’ model, allowing members to purchase Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel™ for every private jet booking – regardless of departure airport.
The key learnings from Victor customer behaviour have been encouraging: 1 in 5 private aircraft charterers are willing to pay an additional c.4,500 AED for SAF per booking, providing an average carbon emission reduction of 1.5 tonnes. The average amount of Jet-A fossil fuel Victor customers choose to replace with SAF is 30% per booking. Victor’s aim in 2024 is for at least 1 in 5 MENA customers to buy SAF for their jet charter bookings.
This voluntary solution and the SAF purchases it is enabling, is helping to establish a critical new sustainable aviation fuel supply chain, which is necessary for aviation to reach net zero in 2050. Industry reports on carbon emissions and trends of extreme weather events indicate a growing urgency for climate action in aviation, with business aviation specifically under scrutiny for its relatively high carbon emissions on a per passenger basis.
Toby Edwards, Victor co-CEO comments “In February this year, 9 years after the Paris Climate Agreement was signed, global warming exceeded 1.5°C across an entire year for the first time. The UN Environment Programme say the world is on track for a temperature rise of up to 2.9°C. Experts state if we go above 2°C, tipping points will pass, causing catastrophic economic impact underscoring the immediate need for worldwide credible climate action. We are all in this.”
Victor’s vision does not stop at transforming business aviation alone. Ongoing efforts include enabling voluntary SAF purchases through the ‘Pay Here, Use There’ model, within the growing commercial aviation industry and supporting initiatives that will help make e-SAF a commercial reality by 2030. Victor’s belief is that its influential clientele can play a significant part in raising awareness of SAF within key industry and geopolitical networks in the region.
Edwards continues, “Our results in partnership with Neste evidence many flyers acknowledge they are living beyond their environmental means and will therefore voluntarily pay more for their carbon consumption when they fly. We strongly advocate for the wider aviation industry to accelerate SAF demand by enabling all flyers to voluntarily buy SAF.”
Victor and Neste signed a partnership agreement in June 2022 to help credibly reduce Victor members’ lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80% by providing a practical solution for reducing emissions now. Through this collaboration, Victor is enabling more Middle East and UAE flyers to actively engage in tangible climate action, coinciding with an increased environmental consciousness and demand for more environmentally sustainable travel solutions from the region’s elite flyers.
SAF will need to contribute to around 65% of the reduction in emissions required by aviation to reach net-zero in 2050, according to IATA. To date, Victor has had 427 SAF bookings. The average spend on SAF per booking is AED 4,500 and the company has achieved a total CO2 reduction of 653 tonnes . The recent HQ move together with the commitment to climate action in the region demonstrates a significant step in Victor’s alignment with the UAE’s vision for economic diversification, sustainable development and the wider goal of achieving Net Zero CO2 emissions by 2050.