The new Jet A-1 fuel facility of the company Nautilus Aviation S.p.A. inside the airport Falcone-Borsellino in Palermo, will be inaugurated the 25th of November. The Nautilus Aviation is a leading company in Italy for wholesale and retail sale of aviation fuels and is based in Palermo.
Founded in 1998 by Giacomo Cusumano, managing director and owner, it has established itself in the market with constant expansion of its business and revenue growth that got a persistent increase from year to year, starting from 2008. The Sicilian company, known and appreciated throughout the world by industry insiders, aims to expand the number of fuel facility directly managed and to offer more competitive prices to airlines, thereby increasing its market share.
How did you get the idea of opening a deposit and a fuel supply system in the airport of Palermo, where competition with oil companies is very strong?
“The Nautilus manages already fuel depots inside the airports of Cagliari, Comiso, Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Although the company has a highly developed trading sector, that is indirect fuel trade at airports through cooperation agreements with oil companies, it has always been our primary desire to regionalize the company’s presence in the territory with the opening of fuel facilities and depots, carrying the Nautilus brand, for the supply of kerosene in the most important and strategic airports of Sardinia and Sicily, and it is a goal we are pursuing at a sustainable pace, with dedicated commitment and will to succeed. Moreover, an into-plane service monopoly persists in the airport of Palermo, so to affect consistently the costs paid by the airlines for fuel purchase from the several competing oil companies. With the opening of our fuel depot, airlines can instead get both more advantageous prices for Jet A-1, and a cost for the into-plane service, performed by the same Nautilus, more competitive compared to that of the company currently managing a monopoly in the delivery of kerosene on board the aircraft. We intend to participate to all the airlines’ fuel tenders, Italian and foreign, focusing on service quality and price competitiveness”.
Did you recover an existing structure or have the fuel depots been built from the ground up?
“The new facility has been built entirely from scratch in an undeveloped area of Airport Falcone and Borsellino and will ensure, at full capacity, six new jobs. The plant is highly technological and futuristic, designed, built and equipped entirely by the same company Nautilus Aviation S.p.A., using the expertise and the most innovative and cutting-edge methodologies in the field, in accordance with the IATA guidelines. Another of the competence of the company is design and construction of aviation, marine and road fuels facilities, certified and approved, and construction in a few days of provisional aviation fuel storage facilities, in accordance with ICAO provisions, on containers of 15,000 liters, throughout Italy (for Civil Protection, special events, etc …)”.
What is the fuel tank capacity?
“The tanks are two with capacity of 300 thousand liters each. To these we add the four fuel trucks approved and certified to the applicable standards.”
Has the Nautilus ventured alone in this enterprise or made use of the collaboration, especially financial, of other entities or companies?
“The initiative was borne entirely by the Nautilus except for a partial access to bank credit that allowed us to complete the financing of the transaction. But we must not overlook the important contribution of all the experts and collaborators who, in recent months, have tirelessly dedicated themselves to the realization of the structure in full compliance with all the required parameters and terms of presentation. Our wish, thanks to the commitment of all, has finally come true. ”
Barbara Cardella
