Not that long ago, it was a challenge to operate a business jet in Mexico. There were few FBOs, ground support was sporadic — at outlying airports, nonexistent — and getting anything seemed to take forever. Even in the few cases where handling agents were available, permits and authorizations had to be walked through multiple offices by flight crews.

A new fuel specification or amendment to an existing one begins with a comprehensive research report submitted as an argument for consideration to members of ASTM International (formerly, the American Society for Testing and Materials), who subsequently vote for or against its inclusion in the appropriate spec. The ASTM technical body reviews the research report to determine if it is technically sound and provides reasonable substantiation for the approval of the fuel under consideration.

No organic fuel discovered so far is as “dense” with hydrocarbons as petroleum, which is why it has represented the fuel of choice in internal combustion engines for more than a century. While biofuels come close to replicating the characteristics of petroleum, the one area where they fall short is density.