1 October 2020

• 1 October 2020 marks the transition of ownership of Sydney Airport’s fuel infrastructure assets
• Benefits to include greater competition and future introduction of sustainable fuels

Sydney Airport has today formally taken ownership and control of the airport’s jet fuel facilities. This transition will help enhance competition in the jet fuel supply chain at the airport, better align future infrastructure investments to the growth of the airport and assist in the introduction of sustainable aviation fuel in the future.

The facilities, with assets comprising five storage tanks, 11km of pipelines, and 170 jet fuel hydrant points across the airport, were purchased for $85m.

Dhruv Gupta, Sydney Airport’s Chief Aviation Officer, said: “Today’s acquisition is an import milestone that will help ensure the alignment of airport growth and the future investment in fuel infrastructure. Importantly, the transaction will help facilitate greater competition for fuel supply, something which the Productivity Commission recently identified as a priority.”

Leading aviation fuel services provider Skytanking has been awarded the contract to operate the airport’s jet fuel infrastructure. Skytanking has a global footprint and currently operates in 80 airports in 13 countries around the world.

Pieter Van Espen, Skytanking’s Executive Vice President - Business Development, said: “This contract is one more step towards the company’s goal to build a strong brand in aviation fuel distribution, championing safety standards, operational excellence and innovation. Sydney will be our first active operation in Australia and is the first step in our development in Australia. The successful hand-over of the operations in a very short transition period, while also coping with the challenges of the travel ban due to COVID-19, underlines our capability to build and train new teams in new markets.”

Mr Gupta added: “The acquisition of the jet fuel infrastructure, combined with taking control of the Jetbase and Terminal 3, means that for the first time since privatisation Sydney Airport has control of all the material assets on our site, allowing us invest more readily to support future growth.”

Jet fuel providers wishing to express interest in supplying jet fuel to the airport should lodge their interest via the forms available at sydneyairport.com.au/jetfuel

Sydney Airport jet fuel facilities – key facts and figures

• Five storage tanks with a maximum capacity of 29 megalitres of aviation fuel
• 11 hydrant pumps, used to pressurize the hydrant lines, with a capacity of 45,000 litres per minute at 1,000 kPa
• Approximately 11 kilometres of underground pipelines connecting the storage tanks to the international and domestic terminals
• 170 jet fuel hydrant points at the aprons of the international and domestic terminal aircraft bays
• Average daily jet fuel demand of approximately 10 million litres in 2019
• The volume of aviation fuel sold annually was approximately 3.5 billion litres in 2019
• The Sydney basin area surrounding the Airport contains jet fuel supply and storage infrastructure with an estimated storage capacity of approximately 196 megalitres