Originally Posted by
k.swiss
When tankering our crews plan to land at exactly MLW. (You take as much fuel as possible so normally MTOW/MLW is the only restriction) In reality, due to shortcut, favorable wind and other factors you could end up saving more fuel and landing above MLW. (hopefully one would spot this and hold) Thus reducing MLW on tankering sectors by 200KG sometimes 500KG can be beneficial and give you some margin in the case of an unexpected shortcut.
That makes sense, however our manual states the MLW is to be reduced by 2,000kg.
Same logic may apply as a buffer, I haven’t asked the question of our tech team.