100% agree Surplus.
And I believe this "Ops Procedures" probably been going for some time, I doubt this was the first time.
This is not just about the Captain, but the culture within this company and how they operated. And the handling of this with regards dispatcher and other staff connected to this tragedy.
The Captain had ample time to divert enroute, and the last dice he could have declared an emergency before entering the hold.
His fuel alarms would have been going off long before he first announced any kind of emergency scenario, but he didn't tell anybody until his engines started cutting out, creating his electrical problems. The only chance he, (and more importantly, his passengers and crew), had, was if he announced his emergency fuel state BEFORE he accepted a hold clearance. Then, they may have had the time to clear him for a straight in.
CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, reportedly had endorsed LAMIA as its recommended charter carrier.
Those of us whose memories go back even a few months are aware that countless CONMEBOL officials have been arrested, extradited to the USA and charged with RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations) offences.
All of this raises the issue as to what had led CONMEBOL to make LAMIA its preferred carrier.
Additionally, the other flight of lengthy distance that the carrier recently undertook non-stop as mentioned on this thread was Buenos Aires to Belo Horizonte, which clearly was the recent CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier.
It makes me wonder what inducements may have been involved for both CONMEBOL and the clubs and federations which used this carrier. And whether fictitious fuel stops were a common practice.