Not a Journo (perish the thought) just looking to see if there are differences between different airlines in standards of operating such flights. Current Operating Procedures in some operators may well be deficient in this area especially in light of changes to the health and safety legislation that now applies to passenger aircraft.
An FAA report shows that worldwide in-flight fires, smoke or fumes events account for 3 precautionary landings per day (1999 figures). Fire detection and suppression systems in aircraft cabins are normally toilet smoke detectors and or human – arguably inadequate for empty operations on passenger aircraft, especially when compared to systems installed in the passenger aircraft holds or those in dedicated cargo/freighter types.
Have airlines considered the risks involved in these operations or how to minimise or mitigate the effects of them? Shouldn’t airline management address concerns about aspects of their operations put forward by the pilots and treat them as genuine attempts to enhance safety rather than irritating distractions from the business of running an airline?