Originally Posted by
Scoop
Contrails,
I hate outsourcing as much as the next guy (and twice as much as the guy next to him) but wouldn't the aircraft also have the FAR fuel minimums in it when it shows up as a DAL connection flight? Theoretically. unless it was operated under other than part 121, you would think it would all average out in the long run - of course I could be missing something here - only halfway through my first cup of coffee.
I guess if they were stingy on contingency fuel there might be a difference over the long run.
Scoop
You are correct in that ever jet is going to land with fuel in the tank.
Think about the discretion involved though, as to how much fuel is going to be loaded at departure considering the destination and overall situation.
You could have a day that's 30SM and CLR but a vendor is adding an alternate, holding fuel, lots of taxi fuel, and contingency fuel only to take all of that gas which it knew wouldn't be needed, and burn it on their own flight the next leg.