Airport fuel systems rely on many outside factors, and an upstream hardship can easily slow or prevent fuel from getting to the tanks. From a refinery shutdown or pipeline closure to bad fuel, many elements affect an airport’s incoming fuel supply. A failure of any of these factors can be catastrophic, thus creating the need for resiliency. One key way to provide resiliency is through increased capacity. An expansion project begins by performing a fuel storage capacity study to determine future capacity needs, making airports more resilient to future fuel supply issues.
BETTER FUELING CAPACITY AT LAX
Fuel storage capacity studies consider each point in the supply chain to determine how a failure at that point will affect the airport’s supply, as well as how much fuel an airport will need after an expansion project is completed.
For example, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) sees the highest fuel throughput of any airport in the United States. The airport goes through a staggering 6 million gallons of jet fuel per day during the summer. Now, with LAX building a new midfield concourse — set to open in the next few years — a study to determine fuel storage capacity was needed.
