Le Touquet for a tenner? Munich for less than a ton?

With Jet-A1 fuel costing around 56p per litre and these two aircraft burning the stuff at a miserly 18 to 20 litres per hour, it means that going places is suddenly a lot cheaper. For instance, going to a popular lunch venue such as Le Touquet from LOOP’s base near Cambridge Airport would cost around £10, there and back, in fuel costs. In a typical 160hp four-seater burning 10 US gallons per hour of Avgas (38 l/hr) and cruising at 120kt, the fuel cost for the same trip would be about £36 (at £1.15 per litre).

The cost is even more marked when you start to fly longer distances of course. Instead of a whopping £365 to fl y to Munich in the Avgas-guzzling plane, you could waft there and back for a lieben-friendly £85. Plenty of wedge left for beer and Weisswurst (the pride of Munich, a white veal sausage), and a decent hotel.

Why is Jet-A1 (also known as Avtur and Kerosene) so cheap? Despite being practically the same stuff as the diesel fuel used in cars, there's a special nil rate of duty on aviation turbine fuel. That's because the airlines consume vast quantities of the fuel and all attempts to levy duty have so far been fought off – if one country imposed duty, the airlines would simply fill up elsewhere. No, you can't fill your diesel car up with Jet-A1... for one thing, HM Customs & Revenue would be after you for duty-dodging. Car diesel fuel also has lubrication additives not used in Jet-A1.