Fuel Planning General Principles

033-03-01Pablo Asensio Martínez2026-04-011 min

Basic Fuel Policy (CAT.OP.MPA.150)

The operator must establish a fuel policy for the purpose of flight planning and in-flight replanning to ensure that every flight carries sufficient fuel for the planned operation and reserves to cover deviations from the planned operation.

Fuel Components

The standard fuel calculation consists of:

  1. Taxi Fuel: Fuel expected to be consumed before take-off (start, taxi).
  2. Trip Fuel: Fuel required to fly from T/O at departure to landing at destination. Includes climb, cruise, descent, approach, and landing.
  3. Contingency Fuel: Fuel for unforeseen factors (winds, ATC routing).
    • Standard: 5% of trip fuel or 5 minutes holding, whichever is greater.
    • Optimizations allow reducing this (e.g., to 3% with En-route Alternate).
  4. Alternate Fuel: Fuel to fly from missed approach at destination to landing at the alternate airport.
  5. Final Reserve Fuel: Fuel required to fly for:
    • Piston: 45 min.
    • Turbine: 30 min at 1,500 ft in holding pattern speed.
    • Must remain in tanks upon landing in normal operations.
  6. Additional Fuel: Required if the type of operation (e.g., ETOPS) requires it.
  7. Extra Fuel: Fuel added at the Commander's discretion.

Usable vs Unusable Fuel

  • Unusable Fuel: Fuel remaining in the tanks that cannot be used by the engines (due to pump location/tank shape). It is NOT included in the endurance calculations.
  • Usable Fuel: Total fuel on board minus unusable fuel.