Jet A-1 Aviation Turbine Fuel

Jet A-1 is the kerosene-type turbine fuel used by essentially all commercial aviation outside North America and the former Soviet Union. It is controlled jointly by the British DEF STAN 91-091 and the American ASTM D1655, and in practice by the Aviation Fuel Quality Requirements for Jointly Operated Systems, the industry check list that reconciles the two.

Two figures separate it from ordinary kerosene. The freezing point maximum of −47 degrees Celsius keeps the fuel liquid in wing tanks at cruise altitude, and the JFTOT thermal stability test at 260 degrees Celsius confirms the fuel will not lay down deposits when it is used as a heat sink for engine oil and hydraulics before it is burned. Neither can be inferred from the other properties, and both must be tested.

Aviation fuel is also unusual in that its supply chain is part of its specification. Batches are tracked by release certificate, filtration and water-separation performance are tested rather than assumed, and any handling equipment must be dedicated to jet fuel. As a Jet A-1 supplier working from Dubai we quote FOB and CIF against a named airport or discharge terminal, and we will not quote a jet parcel without knowing where and how it is to be received.