A Cold War relic is helping to keep European holiday flights in the air, and a newcomer to the jet fuel market is at the centre of the story. In a feature published by The National, Malta-based commodity trader Alkagesta described how it joined the select group of companies with access to NATO's Central European Pipeline System (CEPS) only days before the Iran conflict broke out.
The 5,000km network links airfields, refineries, depots and ports across Europe. Built in the 1950s to move fuel for NATO forces, it now carries mostly jet fuel to both military and commercial hubs. Alkagesta's work on aviation fuel supply through CEPS infrastructure had been under preparation for some time, and the company has since set out the detail of its NATO pipeline jet fuel supply programme.
The timing proved decisive. After co-ordinated US-Israeli air strikes on 28 February and Tehran's retaliation, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz halted. Gulf jet fuel exports fell by roughly 80 per cent in March, part of a wider disruption that removed more than 10 million barrels per day from global supply. Alkagesta's leadership had already flagged the risk of such jet fuel market disruptions in earlier interviews.
Asad Huseynov, Alkagesta's managing director of investments and assets, told The National the company turned the crisis into an opening. "In this crisis we have managed to turn the risk into opportunities," he said on the sidelines of the S&P Global Energy Middle East Petroleum and Gas Conference in London. One airline approached the company after its existing supplier ran short: "We have managed to find him fuel at the volume that he needed."
Alkagesta now holds contracts with two holiday airline groups, which Mr Huseynov declined to name. The company was previously a cargo trader moving product between counterparties rather than selling into the market directly — a shift in model consistent with the broader growth strategy set out on its corporate pages.
Access to the pipeline came only after what Mr Huseynov called a "lengthy process", including a detailed business plan. "Every year there are a limited number of new customers that they can get on board and give access to pipeline," he said. "It has many entry points into the system, starting from different parts of Europe and it has many exit points to different European airports. You have to explain why you want to do X tonnes from this entry but less on another entry, and why you want to take it to this airport." Related commentary on the same theme appeared in the company's Bloomberg coverage of the NATO pipeline.
The trader buys jet fuel from north-west European refinery suppliers including Exxon, Vitol and Petroineos, relationships it says go back many years, then ships it through the pipeline to customers at Brussels, Frankfurt and other German airports. Service agreements with the airports cover tank farm storage and into-plane delivery, extending a footprint the company describes across its global storage operations.
Alkagesta expects to trade 100,000 tonnes of jet fuel this year and sees the European market holding steady even as the continent shifts towards renewables. "I can say in terms of the annual jet fuel sales, we're planning to increase it several times. So I think it was a really good decision for us to enter this market," Mr Huseynov said. The company has separately pursued ISCC CORSIA certification for sustainable aviation fuel and took part in the IATA Aviation Energy Forum 2026.
Supply fears across Europe have eased since the spring. Higher regional refinery runs, drawdowns from stocks and imports from the United States and Nigeria have offset lost Middle Eastern barrels. Air France-KLM has confirmed its summer supplies are secure, Lufthansa reported no signs of supply risk at its six European hubs, Ryanair's chief executive said supply appears secure until September, and Jet2 expects no disruption to its summer schedule.
Further analysis of jet fuel pricing and aviation demand is collected in Alkagesta's market insights library, alongside its assessment of the jet fuel market published via IATA and its enkorr interview on aviation fuel flows.
