Marooned,
The UAE equivalent of the AIP (I'll get the exact reference shortly) says to plan for at least 20 mins holding (not included in the OFP) so despite EK 'policy' it would be in contradiction on the advice given by the GCAA.
I stand to be corrected.
Here it is:
United Arab Emirates
General Civil Aviation Authority
Aeronautical
Information Circular
Number 04 2006
04 October 2006
Current AIC : 04/98, 01/00, 02/00, 02/01, 05/01, 06/01, 01/02, 02/02, 03/02, 01/03, 02/03, 04/03, 05/03, 01/04, 01/06,
02/06, 03/06 & 04/06
FUEL RESERVES APPROACHING MINIMUM
1. Incidents of crews reporting an inability to
hold in the vicinity of their destination
aerodrome prior to landing because of a
shortage of fuel have indicated a lack of
understanding by operators and crews of
the situation existing in busy UAE
terminal areas.
2. A number of aeroplanes appear to be
approaching the UAE with no more than
minimum reserves of fuel. Aeroplane
commanders who determine, in flight,
that their aeroplane will have little or no
fuel above that which their company
specifies as minimum reserves, should
establish that the weather conditions at
the destination and alternate aerodromes
fulfil specified criteria and that no delay is
expected before commencing an
approach.
3. The information concerning delays that is
passed to the crew by the controller is the
best available at the time and takes
account of the expected volume of traffic
at the aeroplanes estimated arrival time.
If the information available to the
controller indicates a reasonably easy
flow of traffic, and Estimated Approach
Times (EAT) are not being issued for the
destination aerodrome, the response to a
request about delay will be 'No delay
expected'.
3.1 'NO delay expected' means in these
circumstances:
'DO not anticipate being required
to remain in a holding pattern
longer than 20 minutes before
commencing an approach'.
3.2 Where a delay greater than 20
minutes is expected, the controller will
pass an EAT. When delays are
expected to be less than 20 minutes,
controllers will, when requested, give
a general indication of the expected
delay.
4. Traffic situations in the terminal areas
can change very quickly even though 'No
delay expected' will often mean
precisely that, crews should expect that
on occasions some holding will be
required before they are fitted into the
final approach pattern.
5. It is important, therefore, that operators
and crews should take a realistic view of
the amount of fuel required, to satisfy the
minimum fuel overhead destination
requirements.
6. Crews should plan to arrive overhead a
destination aerodrome with, at the very
least, fuel sufficient to:
a) Make an approach to land; and
b) carry out a missed approach; and
c) fly to an alternate aerodrome, carry
out the subsequent approach and
landing; and
d) hold for 30 minutes delay.
7. When the planned alternate aerodrome is
in the same busy area as the destination,
the track miles on which the fuel
requirement for flying to the alternate is
calculated should be realistically
assessed taking account of the extended
routing which can reasonably be
expected during busy periods
8. Pilots should also be aware that although
every effort will be made to expedite their
arrival, a call such as 'Fuel Emergency'
has no status in the UAE and ATC
cannot give priority to an aircraft with a
shortage of fuel unless an emergency is
declared.
9. A radio call prefixed by MAYDAY for
distress or PAN for urgency will ensure
priority handling but the aeroplane's
actual fuel state should reflect the
seriousness of the emergency call. A
commander should only make such a call
when he believes the aircraft to be in
danger, not because the fuel state has
fallen below the amount needed to
comply with formula given above.
10. For the future, it is not anticipated that
any special procedure will be introduced
for fuel emergencies but the Authority is
considering ways of providing more
accurate forecasting of delays.
(Authority: Director Air Navigation Services)