Jet fuel logistics today
Built for shared use, at high volumes, to minimise handling cost
If you move jet fuel, you work in one of the most efficient supply chains in the world. Roughly 315 million tonnes a year flow from refineries and import terminals to wing through shared ships, pipelines, rail, road and airport hydrant systems.
International
Tankers and import terminals balance refining regions against consuming ones, so most large markets can draw on several sources.
National
Multi-product pipelines carry jet in batches alongside other fuels, at very low cost per tonne, to inland depots and the largest airports.
Regional and airport
Rail, road tankers and hydrant systems finish the journey from depot to fuel farm to aircraft, with quality checks at every hand-over.
The system works because the product is fungible: every certified batch of Jet A-1 can share tanks, lines and hydrants with every other, under one set of quality rules (EI/JIG 1530, JIG 1 and JIG 2). Sharing is what keeps it cheap.
Sources: IATA (104 bn US gallons in 2026; ~315 Mt at 0.8 kg/L); EI/JIG 1530 quality assurance; JIG 1 and JIG 2.
SAF and blended fuel
SAF joins the system only once blended and certified
A neat synthetic blending component cannot go straight into an airport. It must first be blended with conventional jet fuel, at up to 50%, tested and certified, usually at a terminal with the tanks and laboratory to do it. Only then does it become Jet A-1 and enter shared infrastructure.
Segregated until blended
Neat SAF needs its own tanks, transport and documentation upstream of the blending point, adding cost and handling steps.
Fungible after blending
Once certified, the blend is commingled with all other Jet A-1. Its physical identity is lost, so claims rely on certificates and book-and-claim accounting.
Where blending happens matters
Blending capacity, terminal access and testing sit at a few points in the system. Whoever controls them shapes where SAF lands and at what delivered cost.
≤ 50%
synthetic share in a certified blend (ASTM D7566)
0.8%
of jet fuel was SAF in 2026
Sources: ASTM D7566; EI 1533 (semi-synthetic jet fuel quality assurance); IATA 2026.
Tuned fuels
Tuned fuel only works if it arrives intact
A fuel tuned for lower soot and fewer contrails delivers its benefit only if it reaches the right aircraft unchanged. Put it into a shared tank, pipeline or hydrant and it is diluted by everything else in the system.
Quarantined handling
Tuned fuel needs segregated tanks, lines and into-plane vehicles, from the point it is made to the wing, with its own quality records. It must still meet the Jet A-1 specification throughout.
Pre-positioned where it counts
About 2% of flights cause 80% of contrail warming. The fuel needs to be in the right place, in the right quantity, ahead of those flights.
An advantage at scale
Whoever can segregate, stage and deliver tuned fuel at the right hubs, alongside SAF blends, will hold a capability the shared system cannot provide.
Where we come in
Logistics Signals shows whether, where and how a fuel will work from plant to wing: the routes and hand-overs it must pass, where blending or segregation is possible, what infrastructure is missing and which hubs give the greatest advantage when SAF and tuned fuels are handled at scale.
Sources: Teoh et al. (2024): 2% of flights caused 80% of contrail energy forcing in 2019.
Logistics Signals
If you are bringing a new fuel into an existing supply chain, the question is whether it will move smoothly from plant to wing: compliance, handling, staging and blending. Start with yours.
Will this fuel work through my existing supply chain?
Which compliance and handling issues must I resolve?
Which supply routes and staging options work?
Where is my supply fragile?
What you take away
A clear answer on your supply chain
- The compliance and handling issues to resolve before your first delivery.
- Supply-route and staging options that work for you.
- Where your supply chain is fragile, and what to do about it.
- Practical advice on your specific route, from people who have run fuel compliance and supply chains.
If you supply or wholesale fuel, run an airport or an into-plane operation, or fly the aircraft, these questions are likely to be yours.
To assess the standard of our work first, request an Introductory Signal.
Confidence in the answer
Grounded in how fuel actually moves
Every market
supply and demand analysis behind your route options
4
steps checked for you
compliance, handling, staging and blending
- Every answer tells you how sure we are, with graded sources behind it.
What your Signal looks like
Your question
The decision in front of you, in your words
The verdict
Proceed · wait · move · stop
Our central case
Plus the sensitivities you want to test
What would change it
The signposts to watch, with dates
How sure we are
Graded sources and the range of outcomes
Your next question
The one this answer usually raises
Where your next question may lead
Introductory Signal
As an introduction to our work, we will prepare an initial Signal on a defined question of your choosing, at our expense. It sets out our view, the reasoning and evidence behind it, and a range of outcomes we see, in the most common form we deliver to any client.
It allows you, and those you report to, to assess the standard of our work against a decision that matters to you, before any mandate is agreed.
Provided under a mutual non-disclosure agreement; one per organisation. All rights reserved, including copyright, our discretion over engagements and the preservation of our independence.
Requests to action@circulairity.co.
See whether your fuel will work from plant to wing: compliance, handling, staging and blending