Where’s My Fuel Truck? The Costly Walkie-Talkie Problem at Airports

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April 9, 2025//Airports/airplane delays, airports, michael bettua, service vehicles, tarmac, walkie talkies

Airline delays often start with a delayed servicing vehicle, like a fuel truck that is not where it is supposed to be—and a  scramble to find it using walkie-talkies. Despite managing thousands of ground service vehicles, most airports still rely on outdated communication methods that waste time, money, and fuel. Volan Technology brings real-time visibility to these “invisible fleets,” helping airlines optimize equipment usage, reduce delays, and unlock major operational savings. It’s a simple solution to a billion-dollar problem.

An A320 sits motionless at the gate. The boarding process has stalled as the ground crew supervisor scans the tarmac with growing frustration. In the terminal, passengers check their watches and phones as the delay announcement comes over the PA system. On the taxiway, another aircraft idles at its designated holding point, burning fuel while waiting for the delayed flight to vacate the gate. Meanwhile, frantic radio calls bounce across the ramp: “Anyone got eyes on fuel truck 7? We needed it at Gate 32 ten minutes ago!”

Where’s My Fuel Truck The Costly Walkie-Talkie Problem at Airports

This ritual of delay is a daily occurrence at airports worldwide that frustrates passengers and airport and airline leaders alike. It also has serious financial consequences.  A single delayed departure can trigger a cascade of operational disruptions, with costs rippling through the system: additional fuel burn, crew overtime, gate fees and passenger compensation.

The costs can swiftly add up—according to the Airlines for America Trade Association, airlines lose billions every year due to delays.

The Invisible Fleet

Airport and airline operations rely on thousands of mobile equipment – from fuel trucks and baggage tugs to catering vehicles and pushback tractors. Yet despite their critical importance, many airports still track these assets using technology that hasn’t fundamentally changed since the 1970s.

“They’re still using walkie-talkies to find where assets are and get them to where they need to go,” explains Michael Bettua, CEO and Founder of Volan Technology. “It’s the equivalent of hunting through a hard copy of the Manhattan White Pages to find a street address instead of using your smartphone, and it’s costing airlines, airports and passengers time and money because, for all intents and purposes, airline critical resources are invisible.”

Workers are loading cargo logistic containers to an airplane.

Without real-time visibility, operations managers face a persistent dilemma: purchase redundant equipment to buffer against uncertainty or risk delays when critical assets can’t be located quickly. As Bettua explains, “If they’re not managing that asset well or utilizing it well, it costs them real money – in time, late departures, maybe over-purchasing equipment they don’t need because they’re under-utilizing each piece they have.”

From Maintenance to Strategy

Volan Technology addresses these limitations with a real-time location system specifically designed for airline ground operations. The system transforms how airlines manage their capital equipment, shifting asset utilization from a maintenance exercise to a strategic capability.

Airport Vehicles

“Volan gives the airline real-time visibility into the whereabouts of all its ground service assets,” Bettua explains. “This lets them find the location of equipment in seconds by searching on our live map versus using a walkie-talkie to call around trying to locate critical equipment. You’re potentially talking about minutes of savings per turn just in tracking down and redirecting missing equipment. Multiplying that across thousands of flights per day represents hundreds of millions of dollars in annual operational efficiency improvements.”

The system enables airlines to monitor their entire ground service equipment (GSE) fleet precisely.

“The big airlines manage many thousands of pieces of GSE that are moving all over massive sites, often in very unpredictable ways,” Bettua notes. “With our technology, they can see exactly where each asset is in real-time and immediately get notified if it’s not in the right place at the right time so corrective action be taken.”

Beyond simple location tracking, this visibility allows operations teams to analyze movement patterns, identify consistently underutilized equipment, and make data-driven decisions about their GSE investments. Rather than purchasing additional equipment as a buffer against uncertainty, they can optimize the utilization of their existing fleet and deploy resources more effectively across terminals and service areas.

Implementation Breakthrough

Real-time asset visibility transforms airport operations at the most fundamental level. When a ramp agent spots a plane missing its fuel truck, Volan’s technology provides an immediate answer instead of triggering the familiar chain of radio calls and delays. The digital dashboard shows precisely where each asset is located—whether it’s approaching the terminal, servicing another aircraft, or sitting idle at a remote stand.

According to Bettua, Volan’s technology breaks the implementation barriers preventing the adoption of location intelligence in airports.

“We designed our system with powerful simplicity in mind. It takes roughly a couple of hours to set up the location gateway.  Then, you place this beacon,” Bettua says, holding up a small device roughly the size and shape of a credit card, “on the dashboard of any vehicle – you can just stick it on with Velcro-like you do an EZ Pass on your car — and it immediately joins the secure mesh network and starts transmitting real-time data to the operations team.”

Michael Bettua, Founder and CEO Volan Technology

Bettua acknowledges that there are technical solutions besides Volan’s that can help with GSE visibility. But they come with challenges.

“There are certainly some ridiculously expensive capabilities, like machine-learning cameras, that say they can deliver solutions similar to what Volan has already proven it can provide,” said Bettua. “But Volan’s solution is orders of magnitude more affordable than anything else out there.”

Unlike solutions that require extensive infrastructure modifications or expensive equipment installations, Volan’s approach delivers immediate and unprecedented operational insights from day one with zero impact on the airline’s IT department. The technology works across the entire airport campus, including in underground facilities and dense terminal buildings where traditional tracking systems struggle.

“This isn’t just about finding missing equipment,” Bettua says, watching a digital map from a major US airport Volan has partnered with as dozens of vehicles move around the airport. “It’s about reimagining how airlines operate. When you know exactly where everything is, you can run leaner, faster, and more profitably. In an industry where every minute counts, that can mean the difference between hundreds of millions of dollars.”

To learn more about our Volan technology, please contact us.

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The Volan Positioning System (VPS) is a powerful micro-location tracking technology that provides a comprehensive suite of use cases tailored for airports. It addresses both operational efficiency and construction safety, delivering safer, more efficient airport environments.

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