The aviation fueling industry has a long and proud history of supporting the United States military. FBO teams across the country and around the world routinely go above and beyond to ensure military aircraft receive the fuel and operational support they need, often under demanding conditions and with little notice. Supporting the men and women who operate these aircraft is something our industry takes very seriously, and that commitment remains unwavering.
Over the past several months, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) AIR Card program has introduced a number of new operational and documentation requirements that affect how military fuel transactions are processed across the aviation fueling industry.
These requirements originate within the DLA AIR Card program and are being implemented through the fuel networks that support AIR Card transactions. Administration of the program infrastructure, including the documentation submission portal, is currently handled by Kropp Holdings (KHI) on behalf of the DLA.
As these changes have circulated through the industry, many FBO operators have been asked to implement new documentation, pricing, and validation procedures that differ from long-standing contract fuel workflows.
In practice, several areas of concern have been raised across the industry, including:
Additional administrative steps required during fueling transactions
Documentation requirements that may be difficult to complete during certain ramp operations (such as hot fueling)
Increased back-office workload related to invoice validation and document management
The potential risk of delayed or rejected payments if transactions do not meet evolving documentation requirements
These concerns are not unique to any single FBO, supplier, or system provider. They are being discussed broadly across the aviation fueling community.
If implemented without consideration for operational realities, these requirements may increase the administrative cost of supporting military fueling transactions and may discourage participation in the AIR Card program over time. Reduced participation would ultimately limit fueling availability within the network and increase costs associated with military fuel procurement.
As these requirements have developed, X-1 has been making targeted changes within X-1FBO to support the evolving AIR Card program requirements while minimizing disruption to day-to-day fueling operations. The latest information on those platform updates and recommended processing workflows is available here:
Industry Feedback
Because these changes directly affect day-to-day fueling operations, industry organizations and suppliers are actively gathering operator feedback to provide to DLA.
Input from FBO teams who actually process these transactions is extremely valuable in helping ensure the program evolves in a way that remains workable for operators.
If your operation processes AIR Card transactions, we strongly encourage at least one member of your team to provide input through the short form below.
The form takes less than two minutes to complete.
The information collected will help inform ongoing discussions between industry organizations, fuel suppliers, and the DLA as the program requirements continue to evolve.