Swift Fuels expands unleaded avgas distribution network
Swift Fuels is the only company selling unleaded avgas in the United States and has expanded its distribution network across the country.
Swift sells UL94—which is basically the current avgas formulation without tetraethyl lead—and about two-thirds of the U.S. piston-engine fleet is capable of safely using that fuel today. Swift is available at airports from California to Maryland and Michigan to Florida.
The company also makes a higher-octane fuel that the FAA selected as one of two finalists in the agency's ongoing Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative process. The PAFI process will conclude with the FAA naming an unleaded replacement for leaded avgas. Swift is "highly confident" the FAA will select it as the unleaded replacement for avgas at the conclusion of the ongoing PAFI process.
"We're extremely confident that our high-octane fuel will obtain fleet-wide approval (from the FAA)," said Swift CEO Chris D'Acosta. "But we knew that process would take time, so we're using UL94 to show pilots the benefits of unleaded fuel in the meantime."
Swift claims that unleaded fuel reduces spark plug fouling and valve wear and allows engine oil to run cleaner, requiring less frequent replacement.
"The transition to an unleaded future has already begun," he said.
