AvBuyer Magazine – August 2019

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OWNERSHIP AVBUYER.com

74
Vol 23 Issue 8 2019
AVBUYERMAGAZINE http://www.AVBUYER.com

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How to Control Your

Aircraft Fuel Costs

Are fuel costs a significant part of your flight operation?

What are the best strategies for controlling them?

Aviation director Andre Fodor offers his top tips ...

he purpose of a well-organized flight

department budget is to identify the cost

centers that most impact your bottom line,

and to assess ways to improve, modify or

optimize how the money is being spent.

In previous consulting engagements I’ve been

asked to assist with trimming a flight department’s

budget enabling it to become a leaner, more

efficient operation. Frequently it boils down to a

lack of understanding of the expense structure and

a ‘pay-as-you-go’ approach that led the managers

to overlook the higher cost centers and instead

focus on those that yield poorer savings.

For example, fuel purchases can account for 51%

of an operation’s expenses. Having diligently

accumulated years’ worth of data on fuel burns for

every leg flown, the total gallons used Year-to-Date,

and the vendors from whom the fuel was

purchased, our flight department is able to monitor

fuel price trends and select the provider offering

the better overall pricing.

In any flight operation, fuel is a significant

expense. As we consider some of the tactics that

can be employed to help reduce the costs of fuel,

it’s important first to touch upon two important

components of a fuel management program.

Does Tankering Guarantee Savings?

Tankering offers operators valuable opportunities to

make fuel savings. When flying to a major

metropolitan airport, for example, tankering from

your home base where you presumably have

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