Operators Changing Flying for Fuel Conservation

Aviation consultants Conklin & de Decker found in its monthly fuel price survey that Jet A cost $6.65 per gallon this month, up nearly 20 cents since April while 100LL rose 26 cents to $5.97 per gallon. The company, which furnishes objective and impartial information on aircraft ownership costs, said the rising costs are a concern to 98 percent of operators, who are changing their flying habits and shopping for the cheapest fuels by changing FBOs.
"Fuel represents about 70 percent of the variable hourly cost of operating a turbine aircraft," said the company. "The average operator to our survey participates in about four fuel card/fuel discount programs. While no one program emerged as a clear 'best value,' nearly two-thirds reported savings in excess of $0.50 per gallon. Consequently, a light jet operator burning 125 gallons per hour flying 350 hours per year would save over $21,000 per year using these programs."
Forty percent of operators are flying slower, using more fuel-efficient airspeeds which saves fuel without adding a lot to trip time, according to the company. Overall, 93 percent reported changing their operational procedures to save fuel, including requests for direct routings (28 percent), tankering fuel (15 percent) more than usual and restricting flying hours (19 percent). The company reported that a few have even switched to more fuel efficient aircraft.
Seventy six percent reported switching FBOs to gain lower priced fuels with 81 percent citing fuel costs as a significant factor in FBO selection. “This outweighed quality of service (55%) and total cost of all services (56%) for the top two factors in choosing an FBO,” said the company. “While ‘cheap fuel’ is not the only reason for choosing an FBO, given the cost of fuel, the FBO had better be competitive if there are other fuel choices."