Air bp at 100: Fuelling a century of flight
We live in a world shaped by aviation. What began with white-knuckle hops between neighbouring cities has evolved into mass commercial aviation, and an always-on international network moving people, goods, and ideas around the globe. Aviation’s story is one of audacity, engineering brilliance, and relentless collaboration.
A century ago though, it was all very different. Aviation was still closer to experiment than industry. Aircraft were often made of wood and canvas, routes were improvised on the hoof, and flying remained an act of nerve as much as engineering.
That is the world into which Air bp was born: one of the very first aviation refuellers to turn 100 years old in 2026. A century later, its exceptional people, its commitment to safety and delivering for its customers means it still stands as one of the world’s longest-serving aviation fuel suppliers. Few companies can trace their history so closely to the arc of aviation itself. Fewer still have been present and enabled every major transformation the sector has undergone.
Today, aviation finds itself at another and perhaps one of its most intense point of change. It’s growing impressively, with industry forecasts suggesting passenger numbers could double by 2040. Yet at the same time, the challenge of delivering this growth more sustainably - reducing emissions and improving efficiency, has never been greater..
An industry taking flight
The aviation industry that emerged after the First World War was small, fragile, and unmistakably a privilege for the elite. Postal contracts mattered as much as passengers, providing the dependable revenue needed to keep planes in the air. Aircraft were improving, but capacity remained very limited and costs stubbornly high.
National flag carriers began to appear across Europe, including airlines such as KLM and Lufthansa that connected major cities, and across Europe, airports like Amsterdam Schiphol and Hamburg emerged as early hubs, though they were little more than grassy fields in their initial forms, which often made for bumpy landings for brave aviators!
As aircraft performance improved and flight frequencies increased, the challenge of fuelling became more complex. Supplying fuel safely, reliably, and quickly was key to making commercial aviation viable.
Air bp’s response was pioneering, and practical. It combined in-house technical expertise, partnerships, and the strength of the wider bp group to help build the supply networks the industry needed. In 1926, it launched Europe’s first into-aircraft fuelling service using a mobile unit, bringing fuel directly to aircraft rather than relying on fixed installations. In doing so, Air bp established an industry-standard operating model, of vehicles on the ground delivering fuel to planes, one that continues to be used to this day at airports across the world.
By 1929, it was supplying fuel at Manchester Municipal Airport, Britain’s first local authority-controlled airport, widening access to reliable aviation refuelling as the sector developed. In 1932, a permanent refuelling depot in Sharjah supported early UK to India routes – anchoring supply in a region that would become strategically vital to global aviation.
The year Air bp fuelled Captain Stack’s journey to India, it supplied around 2,582 gallons of aviation fuel – not bad for its second year of operation, in such a nascent industry. Fast forward to the present day and that number is around 6.6 billion gallons; what better way to demonstrate the aviation industry’s growth over the last century?
The decades when it all changed
The development of commercial jet aircraft changed everything: dramatically reducing journey times, lowering operating costs, and reshaping expectations of distance. Crossing oceans became a matter of hours, rather than of days and weeks – and significantly reduced the risks of doing so. Families and holidaymakers with disposable income, and business travellers, began to choose air travel over rail or sea.
In the United States alone, passenger volumes quadrupled between the mid-1950s and early 1970s. And this growth went hand in hand with an equally rapid transformation on the ground. Airports evolved into complex, high-capacity systems, designed to handle vastly increased passenger flows and tighter turnaround times.
But while Air bp continued to build its offer for the aviation industry, it also recognised that consistent standards were required to ensure that refuelling was done safely, in a rapidly growing and increasingly international industry. In 1970 Air bp became a founding member of the Joint Inspection Group, helping to set global benchmarks for aviation fuel supply. Today, JIG inspectors visit around 500 airports annually to ensure refuelling operations meet JIG’s safety standards. You may not see them when you’re hopping on your flight to your summer holidays, but this initiative – with Air bp at its heart – has played a vital role in maintaining safe operations at airports.
When wide-body aircraft entered service, Air bp again moved ahead of demand. In 1972, it introduced super jet dispensers and jumbo refuellers designed specifically for wide-body operations, enabling immediate global support for Boeing 747 fleets. Early jumbo refuelling for airlines including Pan Am, TWA, and Qantas demonstrated clearly that infrastructure readiness was essential to aviation’s next great leap.
The ambition of the era was perhaps most vividly expressed in the development of Concorde. Conceived in the 1960s, the supersonic aircraft embodied aviation’s confidence in technology and progress, pushing the boundaries of speed and engineering to the limits. Here again, as with so many of the iconic moments in aviation history, Air bp’s incredible people played their part – coordinating fuel formulation, infrastructure design, and equipment engineering to meet demands never seen before in aviation.
Across this era of rapid transformation, one thing remained non-negotiable – trust. Airlines, manufacturers, airports and authorities relied on Air bp not only for fuel, but for the engineered solutions that supported industry development.
Turning the remarkable into the routine
As we approached the end of the 20th century, air travel became ever more accessible. In Europe, the rise of low-cost carriers fundamentally altered the industry’s economics and culture. Airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair offered something that would once have seemed impossible: affordable flights abroad for a mass market, making weekend city breaks and overseas holidays attainable for millions.
This second major boom was no accident. In the United States, deregulation reshaped airline competition, while in Europe, market liberalisation dismantled long-standing barriers. Fierce competition drove down fares and prompted airlines to rethink efficiency, turnaround times, and route economics as well as the service they provided to their passengers.
As air travel became part of everyday life, reliability became as important as innovation. Aviation systems grew more interconnected – but also more exposed to disruption. Aviation is unforgiving: weather, geopolitics, supply disruptions, and operational pressures test resilience daily. Air bp’s ability to adapt, reroute supply chains, and support customers under pressure has helped us gain our reputation of dependable partners, build trusted relationships and maintain critical air links in times of crisis.
When major shocks struck, Air bp’s integrated strengths in logistics, trading, and operations were paramount in keeping aircraft flying. During the Buncefield fuel depot explosion in 2005, alternative sourcing and logistics helped maintain supply to South-East England airports. During the Icelandic volcanic ash crisis in 2010, rapid trading & supply responses helped prevent national jet fuel shortages.
Aviation’s centre of gravity also began to shift on its axis. The Asia-Pacific region boomed as rising incomes, urbanisation, and investment in infrastructure created new markets hungry for air travel. Recognising this momentum early, Air bp expanded its operations into Asia-Pacific in 1986, supporting airlines and airports in a region whose nascent aviation ambitions were only beginning to be realised.
That expansion deepened in 1998 with the formation of Bluesky Aviation Fuel Co Ltd in China. The joint venture helped provide the fuelling infrastructure and operational standards required to support the rapid growth China demanded.25 That growth has seen passenger numbers go from 60 million in 199926 to 267 million in 2010 – a phenomenal rate of growth supported every step of the way by Air bp.
Throughout this period of rapid change, safety remained a constant priority, along with sustainability. Maintaining its leadership on safety, Air bp launched new environmental and safety initiatives aimed at cleaner, safer aviation fuel handling, reflecting growing awareness of aviation’s operational and environmental responsibilities.
What once seemed remarkable – global networks, tight turnarounds, seamless operations – has become routine. Behind that routine, sits a century of engineered reliability – powered by a network of people, partnerships and systems that keep aviation moving.
A sustainable way forward
By the early years of the 21st century, the next great hurdle for the aviation industry was looming into focus. Airlines and airports responded to increasing public concern around climate change by setting their own sustainability commitments, many with clear timelines and measurable targets. This translated into a search for lower-carbon solutions that could work within the constraints of existing aircraft and infrastructure.
But proof of concept then became operational reality. In 2016, SAF was supplied through Oslo Airport’s main hydrant system, followed by delivery through Chicago O’Hare’s hydrant system – proving scalable supplementation at major hubs. By 2021, it had expanded SAF supply to more than 30 airports globally, today that figure is double that at 60 locations in 22 countries-and still growing. Air bp made further investments in 2024, expanding SAF blending facilities in Europe. This may not be something that any of us are aware of when we fly, but these investments are crucial to building the infrastructure for a sustainable future for aviation.
Another significant milestone came in 2023, when Air bp supplied SAF for the world’s first 100 percent-SAF transatlantic commercial flight. The journey demonstrated technical feasibility, alongside operational maturity, showing that lower lifecycle carbon emissions for flight could move beyond demonstration projects and into regular service.
Yet aviation’s future is much more than fuel. Safety remains a non-negotiable foundation too, and the industry’s evolution has been shaped as much by systems and data as by hardware. The last decade has seen the shift from analogue processes to data-driven decision-making, and from reactive safety management to prevention by design.
In 2018, Air bp launched its digital refuelling app, Safe2go, designed to reduce the risk of misfuelling during overwing operations. Since then, the system has supported more than 10 million refuellings, not only improving safety outcomes, but also driving operational efficiency in more than 500 locations in 44 countries.
Today, Air bp’s technical expertise goes beyond fuels – from electrifying ground operations and using digital traceability tools such as myairbp, to collaborating with industry, governments, and customers. This points to a broader challenge on the horizon – helping aviation decarbonise while maintaining safety, performance, and operational confidence.
The next great leap
A century on from its earliest experiments, aviation finds itself once again at a hugely exciting point of transformation. The next phase will be shaped by innovation on multiple fronts, including hydrogen, electric, and hybrid-electric technologies.
At the same time, the realities of fleet turnover, infrastructure, and global demand mean that conventional aviation fuels will remain dominant for decades to come, while SAF is also set to play an increasingly important role, gradually expanding its share of the fuelling mix as production scales and supply chains mature.
The pace of change is accelerating again – but Air bp has been here before. One hundred years on, its priority remains the same as it was at the beginning: Provide the expertise, partnerships, and engineered reliability to fuel the journeys that connect the world, today, for the next hundred years to come, and beyond.
