Thanks,
Vag277.
I guess now you will say that every commercial operator will lower their fuel requirements in line with the CASA requirements?
Icarus2001, the new rules do require everybody to alter their Ops Manuals, but not necessarily immediately.
Operators have some options regarding the retention of some elements of their existing policies. For the calculation of holding fuel and fixed reserve, they don't, but for all other elements, they may document a "variation".
These "variations" must be accompanied by an onerous justification. If an operator wishes to carry
more fuel for a particular element than stipulated by this CASA instrument, then surely CASA would allow this, without fuss, but the rules don't actually say that unfortunately. It appears that the onerous justification must be observed for both decreases AND increases to the requirements! In practice, however, I'm sure CASA will allow the increases without too much fuss ...
I would very much doubt that
every commercial operator will lower their requirements so as to be aligned with these new rules - especially those that do some trial flights or calculations! But a very large number will surely be tempted. A large number will certainly seize on the reduced reserve requirements ...