"All the machines that are activated on the ground, such as the tanker, the passenger staircase or the luggage belt, are electric. This reduces noise pollution and CO2 emissions," Bertrand d'Yvoire, head of the Dassault Falcon Service airline, which owns the aircraft, told AFP.

At Le Bourget, where private jets land and take off, the machines that circulate on the ground around the plane represent 8% of the airport's CO2 emissions, according to a study by the ADP group.

"The objective is that in 2025 we can offer, at Le Bourget, zero net emissions on the ground. Administratively, operations are less complex to carry out at Le Bourget than at Charles de Gaulle or Orly. It's a kind of +full-scale test+ platform for other airports," adds Edward Arkwright, executive managing director of ADP, which manages the three Paris airports.

These electric vehicles are manufactured by TLD, the world's leading manufacturer of airport equipment. Yves Crespel, communication manager, assures that "this year, 60% of the equipment built is electric" and the objective is to reach 100% by 2024.

The French company, which delivers to more than 110 countries, has also developed reconditioning plants to convert diesel engines into electric motors.

A Dassault Falcon 900 Jet is towed by an electric vehicle on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport, on April 12, 2023 near Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

A winning bet, according to Mr. d'Yvoire, even if delivery times "can take up to a year".

"All the requests are jumping but there are not many producers. Two years ago, it was the beginnings of electric in aviation," adds the head of Dassault Falcon Service.

75% of emissions

But while it is easy to decarbonize airport ground activities, the bulk of the work remains the reduction of emissions related to the combustion of fossil fuels by aircraft in flight.

According to the ADP study, the other main greenhouse gas emissions of this small airport on the outskirts of Paris are emissions from flights (75%), those from taxiing and towing operations of the aircraft on the ground (10%), employee travel to and from work (3%).

A Dassault Falcon 900 Jet is towed by an electric vehicle on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport, on April 12, 2023 near Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

To calculate the pollution generated by in-flight aircraft, the group attributed half of the CO2 emissions to the departure airport and the other half to the arrival airport.

To meet their commitment of "net zero emissions" of CO2 by 2050, i.e. a necessary 90% reduction in emissions from the aviation sector given the expected growth in traffic, airlines are focusing on sustainable fuels and future more frugal aircraft, which take a long time to develop.

During a demonstration Wednesday on the landing pad, the Dassault jet is recharged with SAF, obtained from waste recycling. The biofuel is blended with conventional fuel oil to obtain this mixture.

An electric tanker truck containing "sustainable" aviation fuel on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport, on April 12, 2023 near Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

"The fuel that fills the plane in front of you is produced with 70% fuel of petroleum origin and 30% of fuel of sustainable origin," said AFP Mr. d'Yvoire.

On the market, this type of fuel is about twice as expensive as the 100% oil fuel.

Current engines can theoretically contain up to 50% sustainably sourced fuel, but not 100%.

"Distilling petroleum lubricates engines to keep them running. If we want to fly planes with 100% biofuel, we will have to build new engines that are better oiled," added the president of Dassault Falcon Service.

Private jets on the tarmac of Le Bourget airport, on April 12, 2023 near Paris © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

Last week, a bill by environmentalists to ban private jets was rejected.

MP Julien Bayou and his colleague Christine Arrighi had denounced the impact of private jets, with which, for each passenger, "a trip pollutes ten times more than an airliner".

© 2023 AFP