Airplanes are often required to have 45 minutes fuel as a reserve by law. Do airlines carry more than this?

Question

Or do airlines always just carry the minimum required?

Whatever the law is, do airlines ever carry more than necessary?

Answer 1

You shall always carry the min fuel.
The pilot has his/her discretion to add more for unforseen contingencies (bad weather/ delays/ holds/ etc)
Fuel is weight, however, and any fuel above the min req'd may mean less payload.
Payload pays the bills.
But...as some wise old sage said...'The only time you have too much fuel, is when your on fire!'

Answer 2

It all depends.

All aircraft must carry the mandatory 45-minute reserve. However, most commercial operations will also carry a "variable" reserve in addition to count for, say, unexpected headwinds. This reserve is calculated as 15% of total flight fuel - so the longer the trip, the more variable reserve to be carried.

Also...the aircraft may carry what's known as "holding" fuel. This basically refers to a set amount of fuel in minutes, used to fly a "hold" - which is usually an oval-shaped pattern while, say, waiting for bad weather to pass or traffic congestion on arrival. Holding isn't carried unless needed - some airports state times when traffic holding is needed, and weather reports will state weather requirements.

Alternate fuel is also carried - but again, only sometimes. When aerodrome conditions (usually weather) are forecast to deteriorate below a set minimum for visibility and cloudbase, the crew need to have sufficient fuel to divert to an "alternate" aerodrome where the weather is better.

Sometimes, in fact, quite often, holding and alternate fuels are not actually burnt - but they are there as a safeguard if required. It's the same with variable.

However...the rules are tighter with fixed (45 minute) reserves - these MUST NOT be burnt until overhead the destination - or in an emergency - this means they can't be flight fuel but only used for unforseen emergencies (say, a crash on the runway closing the airport).

So yeah...although reserves are generally kept to a minimum, more is carried when required - and in the case of variable, as a safe guard.

Answer 3

Sometimes airlines will take on more fuel if they anticipate heavy headwinds or poor weather in the arriving airport like fog, requiring a diversion to a nearby city. These days, airlines try to go with the bare minimum because of rising fuel costs, but if the pilot deems it necessary due to weather, then more fuel is taken on. Unfortunately there's pressure from the top to avoid this.

Answer 4

Generally, no. If there is bad weather, or large head-winds, then they will carry slightly more. The extra weight from fuel causes the use of more fuel. So to keep costs down, they generally would carry the minimum, or slightly more.

Answer 5

All aircraft whether commercial or part 91 (general aviation) are required to carry enough fuel to reach it's destination plus an alternate destination plus 45 minutes fuel at normal cruise

Answer 6

Fuel is weight and to be economical, airline want to carry as little weight as possible so I wouldn't think so.

Answer 7

it all depends on the distance they are traveling etc. But more fuel = more weight = more fuel required to propel aircraft.. They will try to keep it to a minimum.

Answer 8

the minimum