Annual FBO Fuel Sales Survey Results

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FBO Fuel Sales Were Stagnant in 2024

The results of our Annual FBO Fuel Sales Survey indicates that overall, fuel sales were mostly stagnant in 2024 compared to 2023 results.

While some response categories showed slight improvement year-over-year, nearly 60 percent of reporting FBOs experienced a decrease or same fuel sales compared to 2023. Although fewer FBOs reported a decrease (36%) in 2024 compared to 2023, 22 percent reported the same fuel sales, an increase of five percent, marking this the highest level of same fuel sales reported in the history of our fuel sales survey spanning more than 10 years.

With 35 percent of survey respondents indicating an increase in fuel sales of one to eight percent, the top FBO performers, those indicating an increase of more than eight percent, saw a decrease in fuel sales year-over-year totaling six percent. (refer to graphs)

Graph 1 2024 vs 2023 Fuel Sales
Graph 2 2023 vs. 2022 Fuel Sales

After a robust recovery in FBO fuel sales in 2021 following the pandemic, we’ve seen a gradual deterioration in fuel sales across most geographic markets The results of our recent survey would indicate that we’ve entered into a period of stagnation where the highs and lows seem to be evening out.

Contributing Factors

Survey respondents noted that several factors contributed to relatively flat or stagnant fuel sales in 2024 to include:

  • Larger, more fuel efficient aircraft, capable of filling up at their home base and tankering through their scheduled stops. 

  • Stagnate base customer growth. This was due to two main factors:

    -Rising cost of aircraft ownership driving fringe customers out of the marketplace.
    -Lack of hangar space and the higher costs associated with building additional hangars making it cost prohibitive to effectively build affordable hangars that can make a return on the investment.  

  • Less aircraft traffic, especially Part 91 operators which are traditionally ”the bread and butter of our business.” 

  • A seemingly uneven playing field for attracting/servicing fractional aircraft customers.

Decrease in Business Aviation Flight Activity

According to Argus International in their 2024 Business Aviation Review, business aircraft flight activity in North America declined in 2024 for the second year in a row. By segment: Part 135 operations were down 3.5% representing 45,249 fewer flights while Part 91 flight activity dropped 4.8% year-over-year, a decrease of 78,231 flights.

Economy 2025

This data validates the feedback we received in the comment section of our fuel sales survey.

Question on Economy

Another question we ask in our survey probes the level of confidence that FBO operators have in the current economy: ‘Is the economy headed in the right direction?’

While 37 percent said yes, the economy is headed in the right direction, a majority of respondents, 43 percent, said they were undecided. (see graph) Only 20 percent said ‘no’ which is a large drop from last year’s survey where 53 percent said the economy is not headed in the right direction.

Expansion of Hangar Space

As part of our survey, we asked FBOs: Are you planning to add more hangar space? The respondents were given four choices. Here are the results:

  • 8%-Yes, add T-hangars

  • 27%-Yes, add box/storage hangar

  • 13%-Yes, Add both T-hangers and box/storage hangar

  • 52%-No, not planning to add hangar space

Note: Refer to graph

Hangars 2025

Top Five FBO Industry Concerns

Included in our survey, we asked respondents to provide their main concerns for their FBO and/or the FBO industry. Here are the top five mentioned:

1.     Regulatory Issues: Complicated regulatory requirements; expensive cost of oversight; compliance issues; taxes. 

2.     Staffing Issues: Finding and keeping qualified employees; turnover of staff which leads to higher costs in training. Additionally, the strain of new staff not having experience and safety issues that come with it. 

3.     Costs of Airport Improvements: Not able to generate enough revenue to keep up with the increasing costs of airport improvements. 

4.     Rising Operating Costs: Paying more for insurance rates; keeping up with higher employee pay rates; rising costs for aircraft parts and higher hourly rates causing more customers to want to argue the invoice. 

5.     Return on ROI for Improvements: Although loans are attainable, no hangar tenant is going to pay what is needed to get a return on our investment. Although there is a waiting list for hangar availability, the cost of new hangar construction is very prohibitive.

 © 2025 ABSG/TJG

Please leave any comments you have about this blog post below. If you have any questions, please send us an email: John Enticknap, jenticknap@bellsouth.net,  Ron Jackson,  ronjacksongroup@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE BLOGGERS: John Enticknap is the founder of Aviation Business Strategies Group (ABSG). He has more than 35 years of aviation fueling and FBO services industry experience and is an IS-BAH Accredited auditor. Ron Jackson is co-founder of ABSG and president of The Jackson Group (TJG), a PR agency specializing in FBO marketing and customer service training. Visit the biography page or absggroup.com for more background.