How to Streamline Aircraft Fuelling in Business Aviation

In business aviation, time and precision are everything. While the onboard experience has evolved rapidly, one area remains frustratingly fragmented: fuelling operations. From requesting quotes to getting Jet-A into the wing before take-off, today’s fuelling process can be surprisingly inefficient.

Here's a step-by-step breakdown of what operators deal with and where the roadblocks often lie.

Quote Requests

Before a business jet can take off, its fuelling process begins. Operators, or flight departments, have to request quotes from a variety of vendors, including fuel resellers, brokers, and trip handlers. This is a very manual process that involves sending emails or making multiple phone calls to compare prices, and there's rarely a clear, real-time view of all the available options at any given airport.

The main challenges with this process include:

• Wildly varying prices: Operators often find it difficult to compare prices because they can differ dramatically.
• Hidden fees: What might appear to be an "all-in" price sometimes has additional fees tacked on later, making it hard to compare quotes accurately.
• Inaccurate fuel releases: The final fuel release at the ramp may not match the quoted price, which creates friction and confusion.

Coordination with Resellers and Trip Handlers

Once a quote is selected, the operator confirms a fuel release with a trip support provider or reseller. This middle layer often acts as a go-between for the supplier and the into-plane provider (FBO or ramp agent). That means more coordination and more chances for something to slip. Many operators still rely heavily on legacy vendors simply because they’re known and “safe.” But newer providers often lack instant name recognition on the ramp, and a release from an unknown vendor may not be honoured without follow-up phone calls or confusion.

Supplier-to-FBO Communication

Once a fuelling order is confirmed, the supplier passes the details to the FBO or the agent who will deliver the fuel to the plane. However, this is where problems can arise. If there's a communication breakdown or the FBO doesn't recognise the name on the release, the aircraft may be left waiting on the ramp.

This is particularly problematic at international tech stops, where a delay of even a few minutes can have a significant impact:

• Disrupted schedules: Every minute an aircraft waits for fuel eats into its schedule, causing knock-on delays for the rest of the trip.
• Tighter margins: These unexpected delays can disrupt carefully planned itineraries and lead to increased stress for the crew and passengers.
• Wasted time: Rather than a seamless process, a simple task like fuelling can become a time-consuming hassle.

Fuelling Execution

If everything goes smoothly, the truck rolls up, the fuel goes in, and the pilot signs off. But if the FBO hasn’t received a proper release, or if there’s any question about who’s paying, fuelling might be delayed until the paperwork catches up. In cases where multiple handlers or agents are involved, the process can be murky. Operators sometimes need to “prove” they have a release, pulling up emails or PDFs on the fly.

Billing and Reconciliation

In many traditional arrangements, the operator won’t receive a final invoice for weeks. Sometimes the pricing doesn’t match what was quoted. Resolving those discrepancies can be tedious, especially when operators are trying to reconcile costs across multiple legs of a trip. Moreover, hidden markups are common—anywhere from 25 pence to £1 or more per gallon—adding to the already high cost of international ops.

What Are the Improvement Windows?

The business aviation fuelling process remains deeply manual and layered with intermediaries. For operators, this often means extra time, higher costs, and unnecessary risk. While some platforms are beginning to change the model with direct access to supplier pricing, most operators still navigate a system designed decades ago. In an industry that values efficiency, there’s a clear opportunity: make fuelling as seamless as the rest of the trip.