Minimum fuel declaration is NOT a mayday for ATC
You misunderstood me ( or more accurately I was not clear enough)
EU-OPS and ICAO says this :
The commander shall declare an emergency when calculated usable fuel on landing, at the nearest adequate aerodrome where a safe landing can be performed, is less than final reserve fuel.“
Further :
Terms like “Minimum Fuel” or “Fuel priority” are not recognized terms and should not be uses by crews. When Priority is required the terms " MAYDAY [x3] shall be used.
The use of these words has already led to accidents . The changes were done after Avianca 52 in JFK.
So yes, if a crew mentions minimum fuel it is not treated as an emergency by ATC. Hence the need to call MAYDAY if you need priority. That was the case here apparently It is why they had to do it 4 times to get priority that is interesting. .