Air bp Marks Centennial of Aircraft Refueling Service

Air bp is marking its 100th year of aircraft refueling this week. From small beginnings in 1926, the company now serves operators at 600 airports in 40 countries, delivering around 6.6 billion gallons of fuel annually, compared to just 2,582 gallons in the company’s second year of operations in 1927.

Early customers included aviation pioneers such as Neville Stack, who flew his De Havilland Moth biplane 6,000 miles from the UK to India in 1927 with multiple technical stops en route. In 1930, Winifred Brown won the King’s Cup air race with Air bp fuel in the tank of her Avro Avian.

In the 21st century, Air bp has invested in efforts to reduce air transport’s carbon footprint by increasing the availability of sustainable aviation fuel, such as for Virgin Atlantic’s first transatlantic flight with a widebody airliner using a 100% blend in 2023. The company has also introduced all-electric refueling vehicles at airports.

In 1949, Air bp introduced underwing fueling to avoid the need for staff to climb onto aircraft wings, contributing to faster and safer refueling. In the 1970s, the company pioneered the use of so-called super jet dispensers and jumbo refuelers to support growth in fleets of widebody airliners such as the Boeing 747. The group has allowed aircraft operators to purchase fuel using its card programs since 1993.

Rival energy group Shell lays claim to an even older heritage, having provided aircraft fuel since the early 1900s. It supported Louis Blériot’s crossing of the Channel in 1909 and the first nonstop transatlantic flight by captain John Alcock and his navigator Arthur Brown in 1919. In 1921, what became Shell Aviation installed an underground refueling system at Croydon Airport near London to replace refueling by hand.