Patent ID: 8055526

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for the automated control of fueling operations for the aviation industry, comprising: creating a first airline profile for a first airline to be accessed by a fuel management server, wherein the first airline profile comprises a fueling equipment identifier, an estimated time to travel between at least two airport gates, first airline aircraft information including an identifier about the first airline's aircraft arriving to or departing from an airport, and first airline fueling agent information about first airline fueling agents available to be assigned fueling operations, the first airline fueling agent information comprising work schedules of each of the first airline fueling agents and qualifications of each of the first airline fueling agents; creating a second airline profile for a second airline to be accessed by the fuel management server, wherein the second airline profile comprises a second fueling equipment identifier, a second estimated time to travel between at least two airport gates, second airline aircraft information including an identifier about the second airline's aircraft arriving to or departing from the airport, and second airline fueling agent information about second airline fueling agents available to be assigned fueling operations, the second airline fueling agent information comprising work schedules of each of the second airline fueling agents and qualifications of each of the second airline fueling agents; creating fuel assignment rules to be accessed by the fuel management server, the fuel assignment rules comprising: a rule specifying that fueling agents must be qualified to be assigned to utilize certain fueling equipment; a rule specifying that fueling agents must be qualified to be assigned to refuel certain aircraft; and a rule limiting the number of back-to-back fueling operations assigned to a fueling agent; determining, by the fuel management server, fueling operations for the first and second airlines based upon the first and second airline profiles and the fuel assignment rules; and assigning, by the fuel management server, the fueling operations without manual interaction (1) for the first airline to at least one of the first airline fueling agents, and (2) for the second airline to at least one of the second airline fueling agents.