OK guys below is the answer I had obtained a few years back from airbus Flt.Ops.
Regarding the operation of fuel pumps in standard/normal conditions, we would like to confirm that Airbus recommendation is to switch OFF all fuel pumps at the end of the flight, and to turn them back ON during the cockpit preparation.
The references in the Airbus operational documentation are the following ones:
- At the end of the flight, Airbus SOP (Refer to FCOM-PRO-NOR-SOP-22 P 2/4) requests the flight crew to set FUEL PUMPS to OFF
- During the cockpit preparation, Airbus SOP (Refer to FCOM-PRO-NOR-SOP-06 P 3/20) states “It is a general rule to turn off all white lights during the scan sequence; therefore, these actions are not listed here”, namely to turn OFF all white lights for all the related systems.
The reason for this policy is to avoid operation of fuel pumps in an empty fuel tank, and also avoid unwanted fuel transfers (which can affect and potentially abort refueling process). That is the reason why the recommendation to switch OFF the fuel pumps before refueling is not explicitly provided into the FCOM, because this recommendation is implicitly covers by SOPs in standard operations (i.e. when refueling is performed before the cockpit preparation).
Please be informed that there are no restrictions/limitations to have fuel pumps running during the refueling as long as they do not run dry (in an empty tank, which in any cases should never be more than 10 minutes).
However, the general recommendation (not mandatory) is to have the fuel pumps switched OFF during refueling, in order to ensure that the possibility of pump dry running is avoided. It is particularly relevant for the center tank pumps, because the center tank is most of the time empty at the end of the flight. Switching OFF the center tank pumps ensures in all cases that they do not run during refuelling.
When performing the cockpit preparation, it is assumed that the refuelling (if needed) has been performed previously. As a result, if Airbus SOPs are well applied, all the fuel pumps will be correctly switched OFF during refueling.