AvBuyer Magazine – August 2019

76 
 Vol 23 Issue 8 2019 
 AVBUYERMAGAZINE http://www.AVBUYER.com

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OWNERSHIP A

preferred pricing, may save you money. In our case,

it can save up to $3 dollars per gallon.

In some European countries, the mineral taxes

can easily double the total cost of the fuel, and

tankering becomes a necessity. But beware. There

is a point of diminishing returns and tankering can

cause a significant increase in fuel burn and the

missed opportunity of having ramp fees waived

with a fuel purchase.

Some nations also frown on tankering, and you

may be penalized or taxed on excessive fuel

remaining in your tanks. So, if you are to enjoy the

cost savings of tankering, you’ll need to plan ahead

for each flight you make, ensuring that the savings

from tankering really do outweigh any taxation or

waived ramp fees, for example.

Finding the Fuel Burn Flight Profile

Sweet Spot

A fuel burn flight profile is a managed approach to

aircraft operations where you determine the sweet

spot for different flights. For example, a positioning

leg may be flown at a slower long-range cruise

speed, while an occupied flight is flown at high-

speed cruise on short domestic legs and

intermediate speeds on international long haul.

You can get quite sophisticated with your fuel

burn flight profile, adding items such as engine

reserve costs into the mix.

The Role of Fuel Cards

If you are a flight operation that shows up at the

FBO and pays retail price for your fuel, thank you!

You are leaving the breadcrumbs for me and other

savvy operators to benefit from. If you’d rather not

put money into our pockets, then you’ll need to

think more carefully about fuel cards.

In my flight department we subscribe to no less

than four fuel cards. But how did we come to the

decision on which cards we’d add to our arsenal of

operating cost control?

First, we check with the fuel card providers which

w A

“There is a point of diminishing

returns and tankering can cause

a significant increase in fuel

burn and the missed opportunity

of having ramp fees waived

with a fuel purchase.”

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