The owner of a piston aircraft in Uzbekistan faces a challenge that a turboprop operator doesn't: aviation gasoline is a niche product here, requiring extensive research. Below, we explore why the market operates this way, where the global situation with leaded fuel is heading, and what technical solutions the owner and flight school have available.
Two fuels and two different markets
General aviation uses two types of fuel. Jet A-1 aviation kerosene is used in gas turbine engines—turboprops and jets—as well as diesel piston engines. Avgas 100LL aviation gasoline is designed for conventional spark-ignition piston engines.
The difference for the owner is logistical. The Jet A-1 is a mass-market product: it's used by airlines, and can be found in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench—anywhere with scheduled flights. Avgas is used by flying clubs, flight schools, agricultural aviation, and private owners.
This is where the problem lies. Gasoline consumption is incomparable to kerosene, so it's unprofitable for the supplier to maintain a reserve, unprofitable for the airport to build a separate storage infrastructure, and the owner has to plan the route around fuel availability.
The situation in Uzbekistan
The country is actively developing its aviation infrastructure: the airports of Samarkand and Bukhara have been reconstructed, tourist traffic is growing, and an open skies regime is being introduced. All these investments are being channeled into kerosene infrastructure, as regular flights depend on it.
Avgas is not a factor in this picture. It remains a niche imported product, delivered to meet specific demand—in barrels or small batches, with corresponding pricing and delivery times.
For a flight school, this means that fuel is no longer a line item on the budget, but an operational risk factor. A lost flight day due to a lack of fuel is more significant in the annual economy than the difference in the price per liter.
Global context: leaded gasoline is on the way out
The local situation is exacerbated by a global trend. Avgas 100LL is the last widely used transportation fuel containing tetraethyl lead. The abbreviation LL stands for low lead content, not lead-free.
In the US, the industry and regulators are working to phase it out completely: The FAA is leading an initiative to transition general aviation to unleaded fuel. with a target horizon of up to the end of the decade.
The practical conclusion for owners in Uzbekistan: the infrastructure for Avgas will not expand. An aircraft purchased today for gasoline will remain in service for fifteen to twenty years, and during this time, fuel logistics will change to its disadvantage.
Solution one: the diesel cycle on the Jet A-1
The most straightforward solution is a piston aircraft with a diesel engine running on aviation kerosene. Such engines have been installed in training and tourist aircraft for over twenty years.
In the Piper line this is Archer DX — the same proven Cherokee platform as its gasoline-powered counterpart, but with a Jet A-1 powerplant. For a school in a region with an Avgas shortage, this completely eliminates the fuel availability issue.
The economy works in the same direction: an hour on a diesel plane costs about $178 versus $271. gasoline Archer TX, and the range is almost six hundred kilometers longer. The difference is due to price and fuel consumption.
For multi-motor training, the same approach applies: Seminole DX It runs on kerosene, which allows the school's entire fleet to be converted to a single fuel.
Solution two: turboprop aircraft
If the mission is transport rather than training, the fuel issue is resolved by changing the class. Turboprop aircraft run on Jet A-1 by default, and for an owner flying domestically, this eliminates the fuel issue along with a number of other problems.
Here they are considering Piper M500 with a pressurized cabin, Daher TBM 960 for high-speed routes and Kodiak 100 Series III, if the flight profile includes short and unpaved runways.
The difference in entry costs is significant, so the decision is based on the mission, not the fuel. However, if the choice between classes is already being made, fuel logistics are a compelling consideration.
Solution three: continue working with gasoline
Abandoning gasoline-powered aircraft entirely isn't always rational. The fleet has already been purchased, the platform has been proven, and piston-engine aircraft remain the cheapest way to log the first few hours of flight time. The key is to reduce operational risk.
Practical measures: own fuel reserves that comply with storage and shelf life requirements, an agreement with a supplier for regular deliveries instead of one-time purchases, and route planning that takes into account points where fuel is guaranteed to be available.
It's worth keeping a close eye on the development of unleaded alternatives: some of them are being certified as direct replacements without engine modifications.
What's changing in service?
Changing fuel types changes more than just the fueling. A diesel aircraft engine has its own maintenance schedule: different intervals, different consumables, and a different list of tasks. This isn't better or worse, but it does require separate consideration.
A practical point for the region: service support for diesel engines in Central Asia is less developed than for conventional gasoline engines. When planning, it's worth clarifying in advance where the aircraft will be serviced and what work can be performed locally.
On the other hand, a diesel engine is easier to control: there's no manual mixture adjustment or carburetor preheating, requiring fewer steps for the trainee. For a training aircraft, this reduces the likelihood of error.
How to calculate when choosing
A proper comparison takes into account not only the price per liter, but also the fuel consumption per hour of flight, the availability of fuel on planned routes, the cost of delivery without on-site refueling, as well as the service life and maintenance costs of the power plant.
A separate line item is for downtime. Hours lost due to lack of fuel do not appear in the expense table, but they do reduce the numerator of the flight hour cost.
You can substitute your own input data in cost of ownership calculator: it calculates for a specific scenario, and not based on average values.
JetHunter supplies Piper, Pilatus, and Daher aircraft to Uzbekistan and helps calculate operating economics for a specific base region, including fuel availability on routes.
«"Kerosene is available everywhere in Uzbekistan where scheduled flights land. Aviation gasoline has to be transported. For a flight school, it's not the price difference per liter, but the difference between a flying fleet and a stagnant one."»
— Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter
Author: Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter, President of the Association of Business Aviation Professionals (APIAP). Over 14 years in the industry.
