Well put Stallie I couldn't agree more!
Although Hempy's...
"
at the end of the day, if an RPT jet call's either PAN or MAYDAY they will get an In-Flight Emergency Response from ATC (after all, that's the whole point of the call in the first place..)"
... may well be true here in Oz as we, along with ATC, generally understand the concept but the initial PAN call in the Ryanair incident at Valencia was not understood and was even joked about by the Spanish ATC.
Hence the addition of para 4.3.7 to ICAO Annex 6
(my bold):
4.3.7 In-flight fuel management
4.3.7.1 An operator shall establish policies and procedures, approved by the State of the Operator, to ensure that in-flight fuel checks and fuel management are performed.
4.3.7.2 The pilot-in-command shall continually ensure that the amount of usable fuel remaining on board is not less than the fuel required to proceed to an aerodrome where a safe landing can be made with the planned final reserve fuel remaining upon landing.
4.3.7.2.1 The pilot-in-command shall request delay information from ATC when unanticipated circumstances may result in landing at the destination aerodrome with less than the final reserve fuel plus any fuel required to proceed to an alternate aerodrome or the fuel required to operate to an isolated aerodrome.
4.3.7.2.3 The pilot-in-command shall declare a situation of fuel emergency by broadcasting MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL, when the calculated usable fuel predicted to be available upon landing at the nearest aerodrome where a safe landing can be made is less than the planned final reserve fuel.
Note 1.— The planned final reserve fuel refers to the value calculated in 4.3.6.3 e) 1) or 2) and is the minimum amount of fuel required upon landing at any aerodrome.
Note 2.— The words “MAYDAY FUEL” describe the nature of the distress conditions as required in Annex 10, Volume II, 5.3.2.1, b) 3.
Note 3.— Guidance on procedures for in-flight fuel management are contained in the Flight Planning and Fuel Management Manual (Doc 9976).
But as Hempy and Stallie point out there is not much more that ATC could do or assist with, especially to an uncontrolled regional airport, so the RT procedures were kind of irrelevant...