To Meet Rising Demand For Jet Fuel, Airport To Lease Tanker Trucks For Mobile Storage

Nantucket Memorial Airport will bring in four 7,000-gallon refueling trucks this summer to avoid the jet fuel rationing that has plagued the airport in recent years, as demand continues to grow due to larger private jets visiting the island.

Three of the trucks are new, seasonally-rented vehicles, and the fourth is a replacement for one of the airport’s existing 5,000-gallon refueling vehicles. It’s a temporary measure intended to bridge the gap by temporarily increasing the airport’s fuel storage capacity as the airport works to refine a proposal to permanently expand its jet fuel farm.

“In past years, high peak demand forced the airport to limit or ration fuel uplifts,” airport manager Warren Smith wrote in a memo to the Select Board. “Notably, two years ago, [general aviation] fuel uplifts had to be temporarily halted entirely to reserve fuel for commercial air carriers and critical emergency services, such as Med-flights.”

The Select Board approved the leasing of the additional trucks on Wednesday.

The initial cost estimate for the permanent expansion of the fuel farm came in at $22 million, which appeared to be a non-starter for some members of the Airport Commission when it was first discussed last fall. Since then, a subcommittee has been working on the issue, and the Airport Commission has been discussing ways to reduce costs. Airport Commission member Mike Leavitt, who sits on the subcommittee, told the Current that the price will likely be closer to $2 or $3 million.

“The last few years, we’ve come dangerously [close to] running out of aviation fuel,” assistant airport manager Preston Harimon added. “Last year alone, I think we limited fuel uplifts to general aviation on the corporate side four times. So, us leasing additional mobile storage is a crutch to get us through until we hopefully can expand the fuel farm.”

According to data included in the Airport Commission’s recent agenda packets, Jet A fuel sales at the airport have increased by around 49 percent since the 2019 fiscal year. Although sales have been relatively stable since 2022, a new record was set in the 2025 fiscal year, and 2026 looks to be on pace to break that record once again.

The airport currently has 100,000 gallons of storage for jet fuel A in the fuel farm, a capacity that the expansion proposal could significantly increase.

In the meantime, Smith assured the Select Board that, with the additional refueling trucks and additional freight reservations secured through the Steamship Authority, the main way that jet fuel is brought to the island, the airport is “confident” that fuel uplifts “will not face any limitations or restrictions this season.”

The move comes on the heels of the airport’s controversial expansion of the south ramp to accommodate more and larger private jets, completed last year.