This interesting concept of flight planning has now arrived in our operations manuals. It's not being used at the moment. The idea is that provided certain criteria are met we can dispatch with no destination alternate in return for an additional 15 minutes of final holding fuel. The criteria are as follows:
- Flight time of less than six hours.
- Two independent runways at the destination available and usable.
- Cloudbase of 2,000' or Circling plus 500', whichever the greater.
- Visibility of 5 km or more.
- Congestion Classification of "Predictable".
I'm not too fussed about this as we can order whatever fuel we want without repercussions, but not everybody can. Also, the reality is that at many European airports you will probably still have an alternate up your sleeve but that will not always be the case. So with the above in mind, what do other people think of this concept? Do you already operate like this? I'd love to read your opinions.