[London – June 2026] Air bp is proud to celebrate 100 years serving the global aviation industry. Since its creation in 1926, when aircraft were still made of wood and canvas, Air bp has remained central to the industry’s most important milestones.
The scale of change is significant – from 2,582 gallons supplied in its second year of operations to the approximately 6.6 billion gallons used annually today. Air bp is now present at 600 airports across 40 countries.
From pioneering mobile refueling units to the first commercial test flight using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) transatlantic commercial flight*, Air bp’s history tracks the remarkable trajectory of flight. Today, as aviation faces new challenges, Air bp is using its technical expertise and leveraging its global network to support the shift to a lower-carbon future**.
Federica Berra, CEO of Air bp: “Air bp has helped shape the way the world flies, from pioneering into-plane fuelling in 1926, to supporting the aviation industry through every major transformation since.”
Air bp has contributed to the evolution of refueling practices through a series of technical and operational advancements, including early mobile refueling services and support for notable long-distance flights in the 1930s. Air bp also helped develop industry-wide safety standards that continue to support safe and reliable operations today. More recently, Air bp supplied fuel for the first 100% SAF transatlantic commercial flight.
Berra added: “As we enter our second century, our focus remains the same: delivering the reliability, safety and lower carbon solutions our customers and the industry needs for its next chapter.”
[ https://www.bp.com/en/global/air-bp/fuelling-100-years-of-aviation.html]
Ends
*SAF can typically enable up to 80% lifecycle carbon emission savings compared to the fossil fuel derived jet it replaces, however SAF does not reduce emissions during combustion. Emissions at the aircraft wingtip are essentially the same as those from fossil based jet fuel.
**bp mostly produces, trades and sells oil and gas, alongside transition activities such as EV charging, bioenergy and renewables that are a much smaller but key part of our business
Further Information
Contacts
bp press office, London: [email protected]
Our historical timeline: https://www.bp.com/en/global/air-bp/who-we-are/our-history.html
About Air bp
As the aviation division of bp, Air bp is one of the world’s leading suppliers of aviation fuel products and services. It has been investing in the aviation industry for almost 100 years to keep people flying safely around the world. Air bp serves over 600 locations across 40 countries and fuels over 6,800 flights per day – that’s more than one flight every 15 seconds. Air bp’s customers include commercial airlines, the military, business and private aircraft owners, airports and airfield operators. Aviation experts support bp’s purpose to deliver energy for today and tomorrow. Air bp has a wide range of services to support its fuel offer including the design, build and operation of fueling facilities, technical consultancy and training, solutions to potentially help customers with direct and indirect carbon emissions savings, the Sterling card for efficient general aviation refueling and innovative digital platforms to increase efficiency and reduce risk.
In order to utilize the ‘safe harbor’ provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the ‘PSLRA’), bp is providing the following cautionary statement. This press release contains certain forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements – that is, statements related to future, not past, events and circumstances which may relate to one or more of the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of bp and certain of the plans and objectives of bp with respect to these items. These statements are generally, but not always, identified by the use of words such as ‘will’, ‘expects’, ‘is expected to’, ‘aims’, ‘should’, ‘may’, ‘objective’, ‘is likely to’, ‘intends’, ‘believes’, ‘anticipates’, ‘plans’, ‘we see’ or similar expressions.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will or may occur in the future and are outside the control of bp. Actual results may differ from those expressed in such statements, depending on a variety of factors including the risk factors set forth in our most recent Annual Report and Form 20-F under ‘Risk factors’. Our most recent Annual Report and Form 20-F is available on our website at www.bp.com, or can be obtained from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or on its website at www.sec.gov,
