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Directory · Fuel & Line Operations

Trip Support & Flight Planning

International trip support providers and flight planning services: overflight and landing permits, computerised flight plans and weather, slots and PPRs, ground handling and fuel coordination, HOTAC and crew logistics, and 24/7 flight following. These are the companies calling your FBO to arrange the handling.

10 listedFuel & Line Operations

Trip support is the desk that turns a multi-leg international itinerary into filed flight plans, overflight and landing permits, airport slots, fuel releases, handling arrangements, crew hotels, and a phone number that answers at 3 a.m. Business jet operators, charter companies, cargo carriers, and flight departments buy it because most of them cannot staff a 24/7 operations centre with permit specialists for every region they fly to.

For an FBO, these companies are customers and counterparties at the same time. A trip support desk in Houston or Dubai is often the party requesting handling, arranging a fuel release, and confirming crew transport for an arrival — so their handling-request formats, payment terms, and contract fuel programs shape a good share of transient traffic. Several fuel suppliers run trip support desks of their own (World Kinect, Avfuel's Avplan, AEG Fuels), and a few trip support providers own FBO networks (Jetex); the profiles say which is which.

When comparing: ask where the operations centres are and whether coverage is genuinely 24/7 across time zones, which regions the permit team handles in-house versus through agents, whether fuel is sold direct or via a contract program, whether there is a customer-facing platform for trip status, and how handling is arranged — through the provider's own stations, its own FBOs, or a supplier network.


Questions about trip support & flight planning

What does a trip support company do?
It plans and coordinates the ground side of a flight: overflight and landing permits, computerised flight plans and weather briefings, airport slots and PPRs, ground handling and fuel arrangements, customs and APIS filings, crew hotels and transport, and flight following while the aircraft is airborne. Operators use it for international legs and for regions where they have no local relationships.
How is a trip support provider different from an FBO?
An FBO is the facility on the field that fuels, parks, and services the aircraft. A trip support provider is the desk that arranges those services on the operator's behalf, often at dozens of airports on one trip. Some providers also operate FBOs of their own — Jetex runs a network of private terminals — but most coordinate handling through the FBOs and ground agents already on the airport.
Do fuel suppliers offer trip support?
Several do. World Kinect, Avfuel (through Avplan Trip Support), and AEG Fuels all run trip support desks alongside contract fuel programs, and in November 2025 World Fuel Services acquired the trip support business of Universal Weather and Aviation. Those companies appear in both this category and Fuel Suppliers.

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