Going fast alone but far together

opinion

by Oscar Henderson

June 5, 2026

Paremiology is the study of proverbs, aphorisms and maxims. Know thyself. Be the change you want to see in the world. A watched pot never boils. You get the picture.

Some are particularly appropriate for the development of the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry. For Damian Mc Loughlin, chief commercial officer, FlyORO, the current favourite is if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

This embodies the recent announcement to explore integrating FlyORO’s decentralised modular blending capability, the Alphalite unit, at Aether Fuel’s Singapore-based SAF facility, Project Beacon, located at Aster refinery on Bukom Island.

“The real key takeaway from this partnership is that, and we talk a lot about it in the industry, collaboration is key,” Mc Loughlin tells SAF Investor. “But here’s a real-world example of how you can move forward together in the right way, safely, in a commercially viable way. By finding those right complementary capabilities and building partnerships around them.”

FlyORO’s AlphaLite blending unit can be integrated at any point across the SAF value chain, from the point of production to midstream storage or last mile, in proximity to or at the airport. Meanwhile, Aether Fuels’ Project Beacon uses its Aether AuroraTM technology to generate syngas from a diverse range of feedstocks including, biogas, forestry and agricultural waste, captured CO2 and industrial waste gas.

Aether Fuels is deliberately developing its project with a strong understanding of the entire downstream supply chain from feedstock sourcing to the delivery of blended molecules to offtakers.

“The sooner we think about the entire value chain and identify criticality, the better we can avoid surprises to be able to go in front to investors having all the dots in a row, not just on the SAF conversion technology deployed in the project, but actually on the entire supply chain right up to the to the point of use,” Claudio Bertelli, vice president of business development, Aether Fuels tells us.

Engaging in supply chain partnerships such as these is crucial for successful SAF projects. Although there is a strong temptation to solely think about the production technology development, looking to downstream logistics early in the process is important to avoid surprises further down the line.

Both companies have strong roots in Singapore. FlyORO is a home-grown technology innovation story from the city-state. Aether Fuels, dual headquartered in Chicago and Singapore, has received significant investment from within Singapore. Backers include Xora Innovation, the deep tech investment arm of Temasek, as well as EDBI, an investment arm of SG Growth Capital. Project host Aster has also committed capital through its venture arm, Aster Ventures.

This geographical proximity and commonality amongst a number Singapore Inc SAF sector stakeholders made it a natural fit for the two companies to begin discussions.

Singapore is also a place with strong policy support, through the SAF Levy, which supports the development of SAF projects such as Project Beacon.

The implementation of the SAF Levy was delayed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore until October 1st for flight tickets sold and until January 1st for flight departures, due to the disruption caused by the Iran conflict. Both Mc Loughlin and Bertelli deem this to be a pragmatic move

“It’s a practical and a pragmatic delay. Signal sending is one thing. But designing policy in a way that it can actually work is another thing,” notes Mc Loughlin.

The collaboration and engagement between the government and private sector is hugely beneficial to producers.

“When it comes to making decisions, Singapore has proven to be a very effective ecosystem compared with other jurisdictions. Aether has also found exceptional partners that help us out a lot,” adds Bertelli.

Announcing this partnership with this backdrop sends an important message to investors and other industry players that the project is moving on despite the policy delay, and that this doesn’t mark any significant policy change from the Singaporean government.

This agreement intends to be the building blocks of a partnership across future Aether Fuels production facilities across the region. This is the early stages in a long-term plan to scale. Afterall, Rome wasn’t built in a day.