Titan Aviation Fuels, which has served as the official branded distributor of Shell Aviation fuels for general aviation (GA) in the U.S. for the past 18 years, announced last week that it will officially rebrand its 550-member Shell FBO network under its own independent, full-service Titan Fuel brand. The announcement means the sunset of the Shell Aviation fuel brand in the U.S. after more than a century.
“The main [strategic] change for us is to move from a branded model to an unbranded one," Shell Aviation president Anna Mascolo told AIN, adding the company will remain focused on its growth throughout the U.S. “We will continue to reliably service the aviation industry with quality aviation gasoline and jet fuel and look forward to expanding our customer base within the U.S. aviation market.” Shell noted the change will not affect its aviation brand outside the U.S, and that it would continue to supply not only Titan but other GA distributors in the U.S.
Titan—formerly Eastern Aviation Fuels—has been in operation as a fuel distributor since 1975. According to the company, the transition for its customers will be seamless, involving little more than the replacement of the iconic red and yellow scallop shell logo with a new capital T sporting a red wing.
“All the programs, the cards, the contract fuel, they were all branded Shell, but they were administered by us,” said Titan president Robbie Stallings, adding customer account numbers will remain the same. “We’ve been the ones building the relationships and managing the network, but we’ve always been doing it using someone else’s brand. Now it will be with our brand, so we’re really excited.” He noted that the network-wide rebranding process is expected to be completed over the next six months.