Gulfstream Aerospace, the principal sponsor of the second edition of The Irish Business and General Aviation Association's (IBGAA) annual conference on 1 November, will be revisiting business aviation's significant progress on sustainability by moderating a panel session titled 'Navigating aviation's dynamic path to efficiency and sustainability'.

The panel of representatives driving this important discussion will include 4Air president Kennedy Ricci; NBAA director of environmental and technical operations Stewart D'Leon; Neste, vice president, EMEA Alexander Kuper; and Nicola-Jane Sellers, group sustainability manager at Luxaviation Group.

“The goal of the industry is to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Sharing the indisputable progress we have made so far is vastly important as we continue to tackle this complex issue,” says Charles Etter, technical fellow at Gulfstream.

IBGAA is putting this topic front and centre for the second year, amid calls for operators and executive aircraft owners to be more visible in their efforts to demonstrate measurable improvements in operational sustainability. That can be carbon offsetting, book and claim, and the increased use of SAF, which is becoming more widely available.

“We are very pleased to welcome Gulfstream back as our principal sponsor. We are gearing up for a diverse and interesting event packed with hot topics and plenty of networking opportunities across the business aviation and ultra-luxe tourism industries. All in the most stunning of settings at the award-winning prestigious gold resort, Adare Manor,” says Joe Buckley, IBGAA founding executive director.

Ireland's Minister of State for Transport, Environment, Climate and Communications, Jack Chambers, will deliver the opening keynote.

IBGAA is looking forward to taking a global view of the industry with leaders from around the world, moderated by Doug Carr, senior vice president, safety, security, sustainability and internal operations at NBAA. Panel members will include EBAA COO Robert Baltus; The ACA chair Kevin Ducksbury; IBAC DG Kurt Edwards; and special guest Ali Alnaqbi, founding chairman of MEBAA and chair of the IBAC governing board. His comments will be especially noteworthy, coming just ahead of the Dubai Air Show next month.

IBGAA chair Josh Stewart will explore opportunities for business aviation in Ireland and why, as a world-renowned aircraft leasing epicentre, it's a smart choice for establishing a business. Picking up this thread, the event will also address positioning Ireland to capitalise on future growth. There will also be a session on crisis management led by Michael O'Keeffe, CEO at Teneo.

IGBAA is looking forward to welcoming to the conference 150 industry delegates from senior decision makers in business aviation, with its audience of corporate jet operators, private aircraft owners, charter users from various sectors (MICE, sport and entertainment), tourism, airport and luxury hoteliers.

The full day event concludes with a gala dinner sponsored by JetCraft.