Corporate Fuel Purchases

[bman]

hey fellas

As you all know most of us part 91 drivers are saddled with the dreaded collateral duties so that the company fells like they are getting their pound of flesh out of us. Mine happen to be that of the fuel coordinator.

So what I want to know is how do your companies purchase fuel at your home bases.

Do you have a tank farm?

Do you buy it from an FBO and if so how do they charge you? Retail minus some dollar value or percentage?

Do any of you guys buy fuel from petro refiners and store it in your FBO's tanks and have them charge you a into plane flowage fee?

What kind of prices are you paying?

Thanks in advance for you help!!!!

PS

Its carnival time in New Orleans. I marched in a parade and am nursing a terrible hangover. Check that maybe I'll have another beer and just "hangon".

 

[Astra Guy]

bman,

We purchase fuel at home from the FBO. Currently $.96 off of retail. Annual amount purchased is ~85,000 gal/year from FBO.

Currently averaging $2.25 across the board.

Our pilots do the legwork of comparing fuel costs based on their assigned flights ahead of time. We track the cost savings generated by each and use that number annually to work towards their bonus amounts. Currently averaging $125/flight hour each in savings on fuel alone. That amount reaps them a factor of 2 for this bonus objective.

With several hundred city pairs/year it can be time consuming but a few minutes on the phone or the web can reap real rewards in savings.

Hope this helps.

 

[2000flyer]

Our department negociates a rate with the local FBO, currently around $0.50/gallon discount off the posted daily rate. We looked into our own fuel farm but the expense and government requirements were too much. Besides, having to show up with a change of clothes to fuel the aircraft prior to the flight would be a royal pain.

On the road, each assigned crew checks local prices plus we do serveral contract programs. Often, our price on the road is cheaper than at home. When that happens, if possible, we'll tanker a little extra home.

Regards,
2000Flyer

 

[cvsfly]

bman,

We purchase fuel at home from the FBO. Currently $.96 off of retail. Annual amount purchased is ~85,000 gal/year from FBO.

Currently averaging $2.25 across the board.

Our pilots do the legwork of comparing fuel costs based on their assigned flights ahead of time. We track the cost savings generated by each and use that number annually to work towards their bonus amounts. Currently averaging $125/flight hour each in savings on fuel alone. That amount reaps them a factor of 2 for this bonus objective.

With several hundred city pairs/year it can be time consuming but a few minutes on the phone or the web can reap real rewards in savings.

Hope this helps.

Do you have any web sources for fuel prices other than www.airnav.com ?

 

[Astra Guy]

We use Avfuel contract purchases mostly. But Colt also offers pricing, BestAeronet, Western Petroleum, World Fuel (BaseOps), etc.

I have found that where there is one discounter there are probably others.

At most airports where there is no Signature involved you will find discounted fuel in some way.

Try www.avfuel.com.

 

[501261]

Don’t forget the CAA (www.corpaa.org) if the FBO is a member the CAA prices will almost always be they cheapest. It costs $300+ to join, but is well worth it if you routinely go to an airport that has a CAA preferred FBO. The money we save on one trip to SDL more than pays for the membership fee!

Other cards that we use (in order), Colt (www.coltinternational.com), Best (www.bestaero.com), CAA, and Uvair (www.uvair.com).

Our home base is pretty screwed up, it’s a privately owned* airport and the owner will not allow us to set up a fuel farm. We have get best price on the field at $.075 off retail, but that still amounts to $2.44 a gallon. Consequently, we’ll often tanker going home since fuel is usually cheaper on the road.

* The owner also sits on our BOD, so as much as I’d like to move to another facility, there’s is no way that would ever happen.

 

[2000flyer]

We use the following fuel discount programs:

BestAero
Western Petroleum
AvFuel Contract
UVAir
CAA

I'll second 501261's comments on CAA. We paid for the membership on ONE trip with the fuel and handling discounts.

 

[TaxiDriver]

The management company I work for has a fuel program which is available to Part 91 operators who are interested. Currently there are over 100 Part 91 operated aircraft who buy fuel through us. We have the only co-branded Multiserve and UV Air cards out there, and pretty much can beat most fuel prices in the system today. The best part is.....it costs nothing. We do this because it increases our flowage to provide further discounts to our 135 operated aircraft.

PM me if you want more info. This program sells itself and have found that most Part 91 operators sign up within one week.