One of the most important aspects of my job as a flight dispatcher is fuel planning. For each flight I work, I consider the weather, airport, air traffic control issues, and more to decide how much fuel to order. Once he arrives at the airport and examines the same issues, he/she decides to accept my plan or work with me to alter it in some way, such as adding fuel. The more fuel we carry, the heavier the aircraft is, and the more fuel we burn at $4.00-4.40/gallon. So I normally don’t fill the tanks like many people did in the past. But I have to carry enough fuel to reach our destination and alternate (if required) successfully, plus 45 minutes of reserve fuel as required by the FAA, plus enough extra fuel for any other problems, such as expected airborne holding or ATC reroutes caused by weather or traffic. The last item is the hard part because it requires an educated guess about the factors that will affect the flight.

American Airlines management recently sent a memo to their flight dispatchers that sparked an interesting discussion on one of my favorite websites, airliners.net. In a nutshell, the memo says management will be studying each dispatcher’s average fuel loads and counseling those who consistently add too much extra fuel, as defined by certain criteria. Management believes that in general, AA could still operate safely with less extra fuel. Reading through this discussion will give you great insight into my job.