I think the rules for how much fuel you are meant to have on arrival at LHR have been well and truly done to death here before. Suffice to say that the controllers at LHR are just about the most professional I’ve come across in 20 years in the biz. If they officially ask you to have 20 minutes holding fuel on arrival, you are making their lives incrementally more stressful by flouting the rules.
As for pressure on commanders to take less, I have an extract from a recent company publication where fuel league tables are brought up and the top captains asked to pop by for a chat. They have been
specifically told by the CAA that they may not do this but they’re above all that. Since the said company makes sparse reference to flying efficiently and focuses on average fleet excess departure fuel, I suspect that KRA’s and their associated annual bonus/new BMW might be the underlying motivation. After all there’s £100m in the trough apparently.
I’ll take on the opposition anyday. It’s my management I can’t beat!