IMHO the 'holes in the cheese' of this disaster were starting to line up way back when the Capt/Co-owner of Lamia, and probably others, started to be influenced by football money and privileges. The game causes corruption everywhere, least not in S America as has been documented recently. Why would any team heading for it's biggest occasion ever, use an airline with one operational, fairly aged aircraft? Whenever the company I worked for operated football charters, also using Avro RJs incidentally, the clubs, ok maybe more wealthy, would insist that a standby aircraft and crew were available. Or at the very least some slack in the program on that day incase everything went belly up. These trips are critical to the big teams. There was possibly a close connection between the owners/pilots and the club, a connection which may have over time, fundamentally altered the thinking and prioritisation of what was probably a safe operator in the past. Extreme reckless risky-shift tantamount to destructive addiction to wealth and ego-inflation. Selfishness beyond comprehension, combined with an associated mental illness? All my speculation of course.
I have to also say that I'm amazed such a slack system is in place , where a commercial aircraft can pull onto stand with fumes in the tanks and little else, and nobody raises an eyebrow. I'm assuming the reports are correct that they got away with this a few times before. In my company I seem to remember that if the engineer(s) receiving the aircraft saw less than a nominal reserve figure remaining on the gauges they would have to file an Air Safety Report or MOR . If memory serves me it was around 750kg on the RJ100.
If they (he?) did get away with dodging the bullet a few times prior to this awful event, then maybe an element of environmental capture was altering the thinking. 'This is how I've seen it before, this is how I will expect to see it today' When the expected turns into the unexpected, disbelief and shock can hinder clear thinking. Very sadly indeed.