Story ID: 060ContractFuelingAINMay16EditedByAY_NM
Fuel Cards and Suppliers
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Operators look to fuel as a cost they can control.
Word Count: 119
Fuel is the lifeblood of the business aviation industry, and according to forecasts from the FAA, GA jet fuel sales in the U.S., which totaled 1.6 billion gallons in 2010, will reach 2.8 billion gallons by 2025.

Among the many costs incurred by flight departments, fuel is the largest variable cost they are most likely to have some measure of control over these days, a factor that has grown in importance over the past decade or so in an age of tightening budgets. According to many in the fueling industry, a paradigm shift has occurred in the way customers buy fuel, driven by two major factors: price consciousness; and the ease of gathering the explosion of price information.