Our mission at Savion is to transform the aviation industry’s energy consumption model.
Using liquefied natural gas instead of kerosene or battery power, we’ve created a more sustainable, efficient and affordable plane that democratizes access to flexible travel. With non-crude-based energy and a redefined customer experience, we plan to bring green, frequent, flexible private jet service to travelers at a lower price point.
Our Story
Founded as part of MIT’s Clean Energy Prize, Savion Aerospace was created to change the way we travel. After the Clean Energy Prize, research on LNG aircraft was performed in MIT’s Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment and sponsored by Lockheed Martin. That research uncovered two important facts: that building a new LNG aircraft and production line is cheaper than modifying existing aircraft to use greener fuels, and that the overall cost to remove a percentage of CO2 and PM 2.5 is cheapest when building new, purpose-built LNG designs.
After these findings, the research moved to the Institute of Air Transport Systems in Hamburg, Germany, part of the German Aerospace Center. Research there began to determine which aircraft markets had the most market potential. Supersonics, turboprops and cargo UAV’s were all considered. However, it was found that 1-to-1 replacements of commercial aircraft would result in development costs of over $2 Billion USD, and that leasing companies who finance most aircraft would be unlikely to support a switch. Finally, an “out of the box” solution was discovered, which became the SavionJet: a small aircraft that could compete for everyday travelers by offering an seat that is on-demand. The development costs turned out to be less than 2% of a large commercial aircraft, by building seats in a set of 2 instead of 200. Savion moved to Silicon Valley to look for venture funding for this approach. Two years later, Savion conducted the first flight demonstration of an LNG fuel system in the United States.
