How You Can Plan for Fuel Shortages

Experts share insight on what to expect and how you can try to minimize its effects.

Michael Wildes

Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 08:58 AM ET

Verified

[File photo: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The aviation industry is experiencing widespread low fuel inventories and significant price volatility due to supply chain disruptions, a situation experts anticipate will continue across the U.S.
Operators can mitigate fuel issues by pre-planning extensively, confirming availability at destinations, and tankering fuel to reduce costs and avoid shortages.
While fuel cards offer valuable market insights and alerts, they do not prevent shortages; hedging is also an option for strategic price risk management amid forecasts of continued rising fuel costs.

See a mistake? Contact us.

As global reports of disruptions in the fuel supply chain continue to emerge, FLYING recently spoke with representatives from Avfuel, a global supplier of aviation fuel with more than 3,000 locations in nearly 150 countries. With a clientele of more than 5,500 flight departments, it’s tied to the fuel issues as closely as anyone.

“The entire industry is feeling the impact of low fuel inventories,” Muneeb Ahmed, director of trading and logistics for Avfuel, told FLYING. Ahmed said his company had been doing what it could to procure enough fuel from its suppliers and minimize disruption for customers. To achieve that, though, comes at a cost.