The F Stands for Future By Katharina List-Nagl, CEO of F/LIST.

F/LIST’s Katharina List-Nagl, CEO, explains how F/LIST is thinking strategically about future sustainability and its effects on F/LIST and the next generation of aviation.

F/LIST’s history is one of pioneering. Our story began in 1950 when my grandfather Franz List set up a small joinery shop. Today, we continue to blaze new trails and focus on the future.

This forward-looking vision had us working sustainably long before it became a familiar and necessary part of the business aviation landscape.

Our view of sustainability is one of strategic implementation across multiple facets of our business, including people, products, and purpose. All our entrepreneurial activities are sustainable; for example, whenever we invest in new facilities at our sites, we endeavour to implement them sustainably and ensure operations embrace the philosophy.

A mix of solar and green energy powers our headquarters. We use a special river-cooling system to influence the indoor climate during summer; traditional lighting has been exchanged with LEDs to reduce electric power consumption. Even our approach to waste and by-products is strategic. We produce sustainable decorative materials using the most valuable of waste - marble, mother-of-pearl, and wood - generated at our production sites. This approach supports F/LIST’s dedication to a circular economy that keeps materials, products, and services in circulation for as long as possible.

F/LIST Headquarters at Thomasberg, Austria.

We create sustainable business relations by creating win-win scenarios with our customers, suppliers, and employees. We encourage our staff to think and act sustainably in everything they do and invest in training and a great working environment to cultivate a long-term future for them and our business.

Sustainability is much more than fuelling with SAF or purchasing carbon offset credits. We recognise that aviation, specifically business aviation, was one of the first sectors to consider the environment. We are part of the problem and want to be part of the solution. The historic launch in 2016 of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to address CO2 emissions from international aviation supports ICAO’s ambitions for a carbon-neutral future. Still, at F/LIST, we believe sustainability goes beyond fuel.

Materials, weight and aircraft component design are singularly essential elements, and aggregating them into one offering allows OEMs and designers to minimize the environmental footprint of cabin interiors. As the call for carbon emission reduction strengthens, F/LIST is leading the way by generating products that add real advantages by enabling inspirational, elegant cabins that are also sustainable. Passengers spend inordinate amounts of time in business cabins; it is our opportunity to influence how they think about what is around them. Our sustainable strategy aims to inspire our end users to think outside of the tank. To think about how sustainability can be incorporated into all interior elements, whether on board, at home, in their car or on their yachts. Our strategy is to encourage designers to optimize our materials and technology to create interiors that stimulate dialogue about materials, space, form, and function so that seeking sustainable options becomes the norm.

We know that the longevity of our markets, offerings, and industry will only be sustainable if our company strategy contributes to improving the environment instead of burdening it. We are, therefore, always exploring alternative methodologies, products, and easily renewable natural materials, including wood. Our vision is not to limit what is available but to expand sustainable options through creative thinking.

We work to incorporate natural materials into our products, like flax (in its linseed oil form) and cork. Our R&D experts ensure our products comply with airworthiness requirements while satisfying our customers’ demands for innovative, customizable, and highly personalized interiors. The endless possibilities of our bio-based upholstery materials inspire designers while allowing us to remain faithful to our sustainability commitment.

Our PUR coating system is REACH-compliant, and part of our plan is to reduce solvents' use significantly. Other innovations include automated painting, which reduces material consumption and solvents. While paints based on renewable raw materials are not currently possible, oiled surfaces are an environmentally friendly choice. UV and water-based varnishing systems also reduce the amount of solvents used.

We’re evolving alternatives for wood species that have become rare, creating new decorative applications from waste using a circular-economy methodology, and devising never-before-seen technology through our F/LIST Shapeshifter program. We are defying physics for the long-term benefit of all our futures. We are bending wood, creating flexible stone, and adding space where there is none.

We are navigating a commercial pathway through originality, paradigm shifts, and imaginative rethinking of the world around us, all while providing practical, real-world solutions. Our magical toolbox of incredible resources helps designers, OEMs and completion centers to make the impossible possible and not just imagine, but create cabins originated with roots in a strategy based around sustainability.

F/LIST CEO, Katharina List-Nagl.

We have not yet created a crystal ball. Still, we envision our game-changing approach results in high-quality, practical products that define the future of aircraft interiors, contribute to the industry's overall health, and inspire all those we work with to recognise our responsibility to the planet.

#empoweringthefuturetogether

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 22nd June 2023 | Issue #706