Regarding the thrust reversers, there is an interesting story about a Fokker 28 landing on an icy runway without T/R on the ALPA website at
http://www.alpa.org
While saving 500.000 by not having them might sound like a smart idea to managment it might not be as smart when the s..t hits the ....
As for the hold without fire detection/suppression, the FAAs deadline for retrofit of cat D cargo compartments with such devices is just about to end (or has ended already) while the JAA still thinks its OK to fly around without being able to know when your belly's on fire.
As the US have a requirement, retrofit kits for all types are bound to be available, so why not mandate them in Europe.
Types affected are at least DC9, Fokker 28,
anyone to shed light on other types with belly compartments
BAe 146/Avro
727
737
717
Airbuses (probably have some to allow carriage of DGR)