Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners Incentivizes Unleaded Aviation Fuel Adoption at Van Nuys Airport

CA – The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners took action to accelerate the transition away from leaded aviation fuel at Van Nuys Airport (VNY). Signature Flight Support is positioned to become the first fixed-based operator at VNY to offer unleaded piston-powered aircraft fuel. The Board voted to waive VNY’s fuel delivery fee of 11 cents per gallon for any unleaded aviation fuel delivered from July 7, 2022, through April 2024. The fee waiver will help reduce the cost of unleaded fuel at VNY, which is scheduled to become more widely available within a few weeks due to the recent purchase of a mobile refueler and modification of an existing storage tank by Signature Flight Support. The Park VNY, which is dedicated exclusively to propeller aircraft and offers pilots self-fueling, also purchased a storage tank for the use of unleaded aviation gasoline. This further increases the opportunities for pilots to switch to unleaded fuel.

The Federal Aviation Administration has set a target to transition 100 percent of leaded aviation fuel to unleaded gas by 2030 for all piston-powered aircraft. For now, the decision to use unleaded fuel, which is a relatively new product for these aircraft, rests with fuel providers to secure approval from the required federal agencies for a 100% drop-in replacement fuel, and pilots, who must pay for additional federal certifications and inspections before using the options currently available to the industry.

There are approximately 400 piston-powered aircraft based at VNY. In 2021, approximately 330,000 gallons of leaded aviation fuel were sold at VNY. The airport estimates that up to 40,000 gallons of unleaded fuel could be sold at VNY yearly until a universal replacement fuel becomes available. Doing so would remove about 168 pounds of lead emissions annually.