A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

With the price of oil rising in response to the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran, and with the conflict now lasting more than a month, industry analysts at Macquarie Group are warning that the price per barrel has a 40% chance of hitting $200 if the conflict drags on through June. For refined petroleum products such as jet fuel, prices could rise even higher, they said.
According to the report, the conflict has resulted in access to 13% of the world’s global oil supply being choked at the embattled Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. “The current hit to supply is already bigger than the peak in either of the 1970s oil shocks, or the first two Gulf Wars,” Macquarie’s analysts said.
“Hypothetically, if crude reaches $200 per barrel, we’d be looking at a $90 per barrel increase in the cost of that product. In this scenario—at a very basic level—we might expect the price of jet fuel to go up at least $2.25 per gallon, if not more,” Muneeb Ahmed, Avfuel’s director of trading and logistics, told AIN, adding that it could raise wholesale jet-A prices to more than $7 a gallon. “Of course, there are many nuances that go into jet fuel pricing, including freight charges, supply locations, taxes, into-plane rates, and more.”
For fractional and charter aircraft providers, the surge in fuel pricing has resulted in increased costs for customers, with operators such as Jet Linx instituting a fuel surcharge. “Given the variable nature of fuel costs, at the onset of each month, we update our Fuel Component Adjustment based on the average price per gallon at that time,” a Flexjet spokesperson explained to AIN. “Though the monthly adjustment will reflect current market pressures, the model does not employ a surcharge in times of escalating prices.” NetJets declined to comment.
Though the U.S. for the near term has strong petroleum reserves, countries around the world with less capacity are already feeling the pinch. “The big issue with jet-A in Europe presently is supply reliability,” said one European fuel industry executive who wished to remain unidentified. “Most suppliers keep their fuel for the airlines and are not keen to fuel business aviation.”
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has carried a higher cost per gallon than conventional jet-A. Some have wondered, if petroleum reaches the $200/barrel plateau, whether SAF—which can be blended with the oil-based jet-A at ratios currently approved up to 50%—could actually achieve pricing parity. “It is possible that SAF premiums come off a bit,” said Ahmed, “but given SAF market dynamics and the fact that SAF is still just a small component of jet fuel consumption, we don’t believe SAF pricing will be affected much in the near term.”

News and developments about aviation fuel, including jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel.

Experts Contemplate $200 per Barrel Oil as Iran War Drags On

Analysts are anticipating record prices and major impacts for aviation

With the U.S. conflict with Iran now surpassing a month, fuel industry experts are envisaging a scenario where oil could reach $200 a barrel.

Experts Contemplate $200 per Barrel Oil as War Drags On

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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Avfuel Announces Upper Management Changes

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Hanneke Weitering

Washington targets 1 billion gallons of annual SAF production by 2035

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News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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South Carolina Bill Targets 'Chemtrails' Emissions

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

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