Sustainability In The Air

In this episode, we speak with Julia Silvis, Managing Director of Research and Intelligence at the GREATER MSP Partnership, the economic development partnership for the Minneapolis Saint Paul (MSP) region region that built and leads the Minnesota sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) Hub, a first-of-its-kind coalition working across the entire SAF value chain from feedstock to the airport fuel supply.
She discusses:
Working supply and demand together: How the Minnesota SAF Hub’s defining feature is that it operates on both sides (supply and demand) of the market, giving it visibility into bottlenecks before any individual producer runs into them.
How Delta Air Lines brought SAF to an economic development group: The story of Delta approaching GREATER MSP after its 10% SAF by 2030 commitment, and how interest from Xcel Energy, Cargill and Ecolab convinced the organisation there was something worth building.
Getting the first truckload from camelina to wing: The three-month effort that moved SAF made from local winter camelina to MSP airport, and what it taught the hub about blending capacity, infrastructure and trust.
Horizons, not just a billion-gallon goal: Why the Hub’s has set a target of 1 billion of SAF by 2050, and why it has been broken into three gradual “horizons”: ongoing uplift at MSP, in-state production by around 2030, and multiple pathways by 2035.
Defending regional hubs and asking for federal stability: Why Silvis believes building things in the real world is harder at the federal level, how regional hubs customise rather than duplicate, and why policy consistency over 10-15 years matters more to producers than any single credit.
If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love the conversation we had with Bruce Fleming, CEO of Montana Renewables, who shares how one of the largest SAF producers scaled its operations by leveraging existing infrastructure rather than starting from scratch. Check it out here.
Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2’. Click here to learn more.
Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our websiteand join the movement. It’s about time.

Links & More:
Minneapolis Saint Paul Economic Development - Greater MSP
Minnesota SAF Hub 
Delta joins Minnesota leaders to celebrate opening of new SAF blending facility serving MSP - Delta Air Lines 
Airbus to Invest in Minnesota Sustainable Aviation Fuel Hub - Twin Cities Business 
Delta Air Lines operates 1st Airbus A321 SAF flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to New York LaGuardia - Simple Flying

In this episode, we speak with Jan Petter Steinland, Director of Strategic Analysis and Transformation at the Civil Aviation Authority Norway, about how the administrative body is building an ecosystem for electric and hybrid aviation.
Steinland discusses:
Why a regulator is leading, not an airline: How CAA Norway and Avinor built the test arena without a launch customer, arguing that backing one airline would narrow the field before anyone knows which technologies will succeed.
Learnings from 126 electric flights: BETA Technologies and Bristow Norway ran a trial for electric flights for six months between Stavanger and Bergen.
The real charging challenge: Turnaround time is mostly a question of charging power, but consecutive charging heats batteries over a long operating day. Steinland believes global standardisation on battery cooling approaches are needed as varying solutions at every airport are unlikely to scale.
Norway’s SAF mandate: How Norway set the world’s first blending mandate starting at 0.5%, to prove that blending could be regulated, reported and followed up.
Norway’s international test arena for zero‑ and low‑emission aviation: How agreed learning objectives and an open, cross-industry scope set the test arena apart from a closed environment built around one manufacturer.
If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love the conversation we had with Kyle Clark, Founder and CEO of BETA Technologies, who discusses the realities of bringing electric aircraft into operation. Check it out here.
Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2’. Click here to learn more.
Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It’s about time.
Links & More:
Civil Aviation Authority Norway 
Norway completes its first electric aviation test project - CAA Norway 
Test arena operations kick off in Norway with first flight of all-electric ALIA aircraft - CAA Norway 
Norway takes the next step as an International Test Arena with Bristow Group and Electra - PR Newswire

In this special compilation episode, recorded live at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, nine aviation leaders share their perspectives on what the future of flying will actually look like, and who is building it.
Featuring insights from:
Kyle Clark, Founder & CEO, BETA Technologies
Tom O’Leary, CEO & Co-founder, JetZero
Daniel Rosen Jacobson, Co-CEO & Co-founder, Elysian Aircraft
Marc Allen, CEO, Electra.aero
Allison Melia, VP - Sustainability, Boeing
Luke Farajallah, CEO, Loganair
David Stepanek, EVP & Chief Transformation Officer, Bristow
Jennifer Holmgren, CEO, LanzaTech
Christoph Pereira, CEO - SaaS, Aerospace Carbon Solutions & Sustainability, GE Aerospace
Together, they explore what sets their approaches apart, the overlooked opportunities in sustainable aviation, and where the industry is headed next.
Throughout the episode, the leaders discuss the different paths the industry is taking towards the same goal: fully electric and hybrid-electric aircraft for short and regional routes, new airframe shapes that cut fuel burn on longer ones, and sustainable aviation fuel made from waste carbon. 
This is a compilation of highlights from nine in-depth conversations. Stay tuned for the full interviews on our Sustainability in the Air knowledge hub.
If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love all the conversations we had through the year with dozens of industry executives, technology leaders and scientists. Check out the archive here. 
Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2’. Click here to learn more.
Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It’s about time.
Sponsor message: All of SimpliFlying’s coverage from the Farnborough Airshow 2026 is brought to you by CAE, whose leadership in aviation training and commitment to advancing safety continue to support the industry’s highest standards of excellence.

In this episode, we speak with Claudia Huegel, Senior Director, Head of ESG Rating and Reporting, Lufthansa Group, who shares how one of the world’s oldest and largest airline groups threads sustainability through its strategy, its reporting, and, increasingly, its relationship with the passenger.
She discusses:
The near-term levers to decarbonising by 2030: Why fleet renewal does the heaviest lifting this decade, delivering 15-25% efficiency gains per aircraft.
The green fares story: How Lufthansa became the first airline group in the world to launch a dedicated sustainable fare, trialling it in the Nordics with a 20% SAF and 80% climate-project mix, and growing adoption from below 1% to around 5% over roughly three years.
Making SAF visible: How the group turns fuel farms at Frankfurt into branded signage, runs SAF marketing through Lufthansa Cargo, and structures bulk SAF deals with corporate customers.
Mandates versus incentives: Why the ReFuelEU 2% obligation was met in molecules in 2025 but largely with imported fuel, why she suspects incentives build supply better than mandates, and her call for ETS revenue to be reinvested in SAF infrastructure.
If you LOVED this episode, you'll also love the conversation we had with Lahiru Ranasinghe, Director of Sustainability at easyJet, who shares what it takes to move a major low-cost carrier from a sustainability blueprint to real-world results. Check it out here.
Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2’. Click here to learn more.
Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It's about time.
Links & More:
Climate and Environment - Lufthansa Group 
Green Fares: More sustainable air travel - Lufthansa 
Fly more sustainably - Lufthansa 
Lufthansa Group sees ‘growing demand’ for sustainable fares - Business Travel News Europe
Lufthansa Passengers offset 710,000 tonnes of CO2 through climate program - ESG Today

In this episode, we speak with Robert Hyslop, Executive Vice President of Global Aviation at DHL Express, who oversees one of the world’s largest dedicated air cargo networks and has helped turn the company into one of the biggest corporate buyers of sustainable aviation fuel.
He discusses:
Tripling SAF usage in a single year: How DHL moved from 3.5% to 10% SAF use within a year by securing reliable suppliers early and signing offtake agreements globally, purchasing allotments well ahead of when the fuel will actually be used.
The GoGreen Plus programme: How DHL’s GoGreen Plus product lets customers co-invest in decarbonising their shipments, and how it has had a strong take-up in emerging markets, and how those revenues are reinvested into buying more SAF.
The virtual global airline and book-and-claim: Why DHL operates as a network of airlines rather than one carrier, relies heavily on belly space in passenger aircraft, and has become the scope 3 customer in a five-year book-and-claim deal with IAG Cargo.
Efficiency as the other half of the story: How fleet modernisation from the 747 to the 777 freighter, plus a fuel optimisation programme rolled out across 12 airlines, avoids 15-17 million gallons of fuel a year.
Why SAF remains the mainstay: Why heavy, long-haul cargo cannot yet move away from the conventional jet fuel.
If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love the conversation we had with Aaron Robinson, Vice President of SAF at the International Airlines Group (IAG), who shares the airline group’s journey to becoming the global leader in SAF use. Check it out here.
Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air: Volume 2’. Click here to learn more.
Feel free to reach out via email to podcast@simpliflying.com. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It’s about time.

Links & More:
Sustainability - DHL Group 
GoGreen Plus: Reduce carbon emissions - DHL  
DHL Express and Phillips 66 advance SAF usage in the US through multi-year agreement - Biofuels International Magazine 
DHL, IAG Cargo sign 5-year deal to use SAF to reduce air freight emissions - ESG Today 
DHL signs sustainable aviation fuel supply deal with SAF One in Bahrain - Reuters