With hourly fuel costs a substantial portion of our overall operating expense, optimizing fuel purchases can directly affect our total costs. For me, it represents 30-50 percent of the direct operating costs in the various jets I fly, depending upon fuel prices – perhaps our most variable component.
If you are like me, you probably have a wallet full of contract fuel cards for Jet A. The savings using contract fuel or associations such as C.A.A. can be substantial. I’ve also utilized fuel agreements when flying charter fleet aircraft, which typically are only available for those operators.
Another option for non-charter or fractional turboprop and turbine operators to obtain is the new Signature Aviation Bravo offering—a card-less fuel and services discount program.
I initially signed up for the program two years ago when it was limited access, while Signature tested and tweaked the program. During this time, they have made some improvements as they rolled it out to their 125 locations in the US. I’ve now used it multiple times with a cost savings of up to 20% from retail, which varies up to several dollars per gallon.
I’ve discussed the program with David Burtica, Director of Global Sales Programs and Grant Boyd, Manager of Global Sales Excellence at NBAA BACE in Las Vegas. They wanted to offer a novel program for smaller turbine operators at Signature, something that had never been done before. Their goal has been to deliver more than just fuel discounts; instead, they aim to offer a holistic offering that includes other benefits as well.
The registration for the Bravo program, which is free, is simple. Operators can enroll at https://www.signatureaviation.com/programs/signature-bravo/. Once enrolled, you will be sent a weekly CSV file with the pricing for the following week, which is similar to other programs. Signature can also send the data to various fuel pricing apps, including Foreflight.
What are the additional benefits of Bravo? When you sign up with the program, you also receive complimentary enrollment in Signature’s Gold program. I just used one of these benefits at their Salt Lake City (KSLC) location, free GPU with fuel uplift. Others include 10 percent of maintenance and at their TECHNICAir MRO, higher crew car and hangar priority, and rental car discounts with Go Rental. Additional offerings include a discount on Lavazza coffee and, I suspect, expanded partner agreements in the future.
As we all know, fuel costs are only one factor in the total cost when selecting an FBO at a fuel stop or destination. The new Signature Bravo program, which includes additional benefits and an extensive network, offers turboprop and turbine operators a great option that I believe will only get better!
