Fuel tankering – uplifting more fuel than a flight requires to reduce costs or buffer against uncertainty – is a longstanding feature of airline fuel management that has attracted increasing scrutiny amid aviation’s decarbonization commitments. Prior research has examined the practice mainly through economic optimization and environmental assessment, leaving practitioner perspectives largely unexplored. This paper addresses that gap through an exploratory analysis of primary survey data from 50 aviation professionals, predominantly experienced commercial airline pilots, alongside dispatchers, fuel engineers, and managers, to identify tankering drivers and characterize the decision-making processes that shape the practice.
