Prior to the arrival of UNOS at Al Najaf Al Ashraf International Airport, fuel stocks had been stored in a tactical military styled “bladders”. A number of major airlines had felt the quality control of the fuel for the prevention of contamination by water or other substances was not appropriate for them to be able to consider uplifting fuel from Najaf. Because of these concerns, these carriers had to carry “return trip - Tankered” fuel on flights into Najaf. For airlines, Tankering is expensive both in additional fuel burn for carrying the additional fuel and, more importantly, can result in baggage and even passengers being offload at the airport of departure owing to having to carry more fuel than was technically required to meet the single sector requirement. Najaf airport was originally built with a Fuel Farm but this facility had laid unused for some 5 years. UNOS re-commissioned and refurbished the Fuel Farm, the stainless steel fuel storage tanks were fully restored including the installation of a stainless steel floating suction system and a Central Control and Monitoring System (CMS) to monitor and control fuel level, flow, temperature, pressure and density. Additional Quality Control is assured by the use of multiple three stage water separator and filtration systems, and the construction of a purpose built laboratory for fuel testing.

UNOS plans to implement and install a stainless steel pipeline connecting the Fuel Farm to the airport apron to permit the two UNOS 38,000 litre Aviation fuel tankers (Refuellers) to be replenished “airside”, thus removing the need for the trip from Airside to the Fuel Farm. This pipeline is also the first step toward a future hydrant dispenser fuelling system which is also planned for the aircraft parking stands.

In May of 2014, the IATA Fuel Quality Pool (IFQP) inspector visited the UNOS Fuel to assess the company’s QA/QC procedures, we are pleased to report that this inspection was performed with only minor observations.

For the benefit of our employees, visitors and guests we have also built a high quality accommodation and recreation camp within the airport confines.