There are already several fuel-planning software packages on the market, and now another company is looking to toss its hat into the ring. AMS Fuel Solutions has been working for the past several years on FuelApp1, which the Dallas-based company claims is “the world's first real-time fuel savings software that quickly calculates the lowest trip costs and lowest carbon emissions for trip routes." The process takes "less than 15 seconds,” the company said.
According to company founder and managing director Anthony Struzik, the software “uses real-time data and fuel optimization logic to determine the lowest trip cost and fastest route for multi-stop trips.” He added, “our embedded tankering feature works in the background by analyzing each trip leg and determines when opportunities are available, then displays the trip leg, the suggested fuel upload, fuel price and overall savings.”
Struzik explained that the system, intended for both Part 91 and Part 135 operators, collects the fuel prices from oil companies and fuel distributors every week and uses an algorithm to determine upload amounts to avoid ramp fees and achieve price breaks.
Users of the system—accessible through the Web, smartphones and tablets—enter their specific aircraft data (the program will otherwise use default data for the type), and then for each trip, enter the stops and populate the trip parameters, such as starting fuel amount, payload, cruising speed, flight level, minimum before stopping, taxiing time, desired fuel reserve and limits for flight path deviation.
Simple System
“In today’s marketplace, you want to keep it simple, especially for pilots on the go, because they can use this anywhere,” Struzik noted, adding that the system will then locate the best fuel prices. The best price, he emphasized, is not necessarily the cheapest. “If you have to go off the great circle map by say a variance of five degrees or maybe ten degrees to get cheaper fuel, it’s not going to be cost-effective.”
The program, which has overrides to prevent users from entering incorrect information such as airspeeds and altitudes outside the aircraft’s performance envelope, or fuel amounts that it is incapable of holding, analyzes current weather along the flight path, and will then offer two routes: fastest and most economical.
It will give the expected fuel price at what it believes is the optimal FBO along each leg and the flight time to reach it. The system easily accommodates changes in itinerary.
It will also display the time difference, cost savings and extra mileage between the two routes, fuel burn, suggested tankering amounts for each leg of the trip and CO2 emissions for offset calculations. “You're optimizing your fuel burn,” said Struzik. “You’re saving fossil fuels and you’re cutting your carbon emissions.”
A soon-to-be-completed improvement would allow Part 135 operators to enter their fixed costs, enabling further price analysis for each trip. Struzik reports the system is getting “ 90 percent accuracy." He is searching for a partner who can take on the licensing and marketing of the software, freeing him to continue to refine and enhance it.