An airblast fuel nozzle assembly (10) comprising a sleeve structure having a series of coaxial sleeves forming an inner-air circuit, an outer-air circuit, a main-fuel-feed circuit, and a pilot-fuel-feed circuit. The pilot-fuel-feed circuit includes a channel (44), and a discharge region (45) with exits (46). The exits (46) have a combined cross-sectional area that is substantially less than the cross-sectional area of the channel (44) upstream of the discharge region (45). In this manner, the pilot-fuel-feed circuit itself can provide a relatively large pressure drop across the channel region (44), and thereby assist in self atomization during ignition stages of engine operation.