Originally Posted by Braniff DC8

As it brings fuel management guidelines to its regional partners, American Airlines is encountering resistance from the regional dispatchers, who don’t want to be disciplined if they add reserve fuel above recommended levels.

For decades, reserve fuel allocations have periodically been a point of contention, with unions for both pilots and dispatchers raising concerns that airlines too eagerly limit the amount of reserve fuel aircraft carry in the interest of reduced costs.

“At the regionals, the mainline carriers pay for fuel, but the operating carrier still has the final say on how much fuel is carried,” said Danny Persuit, president of Transport Workers Local 549, which represents about 800 dispatchers at American partners Horizon (part of Alaska); ExpressJet (part of SkyWest SKYW +%), Air Wisconsin, and Envoy.

More specifically, the Federal Aviation Administration entrusts fuel decisions jointly to pilots and dispatcher. As a result, Persuit said, “the mainline carriers have very little control in this process.” They would like to have more.

In recent months, an American Airlines representative has called on the airline’s regional partners, seeking to convince them to adopt the same fuel guidelines used at American’s mainline and wholly-owned regional operations, including Envoy.

The effort has caused conflict, Persuit said, because part of the methodology is that, “American started tracking each dispatcher’s fuel performance and publishing it for all the dispatchers.”

Now, he said, “regional airlines, at the direction of the mainline partners, are threatening and in some cases implementing disciplinary action against dispatchers for non-compliance.

“This can happen even in cases when the dispatchers’ flight planning software and the flight management system on the aircraft are not the same and the pilot asks for additional fuel,” Persuit said. In such cases, he said, “the dispatcher has to account for the additional fuel on the release, but will take a hit on fuel stats to do so.”

At the outer margins, fuel reserve guidelines can involve flight safety. But in fact, the outer margins are almost never approached. “As far as the number of times that anybody dips into reserves {which enable 75 minutes of flying}, it’s less than one tenth of 1 % of flights,” said American spokesman Casey Norton.

Given that each of the parties – airlines, pilots, and dispatchers – is firmly committed to safety, the debate tends to be a matter of jurisdiction: Who should make the call on fuel reserves?

It is reasonable to suggest that the very existence of the debate underscores the high level of safety achieved in U.S commercial aviation, which is perhaps the safest system of transportation in the history of the world. That is partially a result of labor’s influence.

American’s reserve fuel policy exceeds FAA requirements. American typically targets a reserve of 75 minutes of fuel upon arrival. The FAA minimum is 45 minutes, and American adds either 30 minutes or whatever is needed to reach the nearest diversion airport. At Philadelphia International Airport, which typically has just one runway available for landing, dispatchers tend to recommend 85 minutes of fuel, Persuit said.

When a pilot gets down to 45 minutes of fuel, Persuit said, “You are getting into the holy water.” Get down to 30 minutes, and a pilot would very possibly request an emergency landing.

In 2010, a dispute occurred when American — then operating under a different management team than it has today — sought to impose fuel guideline management on mainline operations.

“American Airlines is aggressively trying to reduce the amount of fuel remaining on board when a plane lands,” The Chicago Tribune reported at the time. “Its management {is sparring} with the airline’s pilots and dispatchers over who determines how much fuel a plane needs to reach its destination, a call traditionally made by the flight’s captain.”

American eventually dropped the effort. “The old insidious intimidation program, which demanded that pilots file reports to justifying her or his request for more fuel, no longer exists at the new American Airlines,” APA spokesman Dennis Tajer said Thursday.

“No matter the corporate cost savings program in effect, our captains by the authority and responsibility of their FAA license, in a partnership with our dispatchers, have the last and final say on ensuring the highest level of safety and reliability for every single flight,” Tajer said.

In 2012, the US Airways management team — which now runs American Airlines — sought to implement a fuel management program with US Airways dispatchers, Persuit said. “We had fuel management meetings, they disciplined one guy, we grieved it, and they stopped {the program},” he said.

American Airlines dispatchers had a fuel management program that included financial incentives for efficient fuel management. But the incentives are not part of a new contract, covering American and US Airways dispatchers, that takes effect this month, Persuit said. Rather, the new contract provides higher pay levels.

With the alterations sought by unions, American’s fuel management programs now seem to have been broadly accepted at the mainline and wholly owned regionals.

“Pilots and dispatchers now work together on this,” Norton said. “The decisions made at the mainline come down to a collaborative effort between the pilot and the dispatcher. Safety is paramount to everything we do.”

The program’s benefits include the environmental aspect. “We have been recognized as one of the best companies for green energy usage and reducing our carbon footprint,” he said.

Now, American wants to extend the guidelines to its regional partners. TWU is assuring that regional dispatchers have a voice in implementation.

Originally Posted by Braniff DC8

Uh oH

I would take butte loads now just to show Parker and his monkeys whos in charge. But thats just me.

Originally Posted by BE76pilot

This is such a non-issue to me it isn't funny. <Walks down jetbirdge> "Hi Mr fueler guy. Add 400 pounds please. Thanks, have a nice day!"