Flight Planning (Fuel)
 

I know there are complex commercial applications which work this out and there are no simple answers, however...

I need to work out a basic idea of required fuel for a particular route on a particular aircraft - how can I get started on this?

Find out average fuel burn of aircraft type. Find out average cruise speed of aircraft type.

Divide fuel burn by cruise speed to give average pounds/kilos of fuel per mile .multiply the route distance by this number to get zero wind average route fuel burn .
To the answer above add half the average hourly fuel burn as a final reserve .
Multiply distance to ALTN by fuel per mile and add to answer above .
Use the trip fuel burn to calculate what contingency fuel you need .add that to the answer above to determine min zero wind fuel for the route. Adjust for wind if needed.

2400 kg/hr is a good rule of thumb for a 737.

This is for a simulation game, isn't it?

See if you can find "quick determination of flightplan" tables-these are pretty accurate considering route distance etc for a specific aircraft type

FCOM for the aircraft.

The problem for the OP is to get hold of the various FCOMs since he is a developer/game creator for an airline management simulator.

Don't forget, of course to add the following to the trip fuel:
(1) contingency fuel (normally a percentage of the trip fuel, but not always for the whole distance if a suitable en-route alternate is available);
(2) pick a suitable alternate, calculate fuel burn and add a contingency to that;
(3) holding fuel over destination and/or alternate;
(4) Taxi fuel.

The specifics of each of the above items will vary with the operator, the minimum requirements being regulated by the state of certification.

On a given aircraft type, the first three items are dependent on the zero-fuel weight, the route details, the en-route winds and the flight-levels available and chosen.

This is all very basic stuff, so perhaps the question should have been posted in the Questions forum?

simbrief.com