I think it’s because of scale. Each department gets these KPI’s and goes crazy about them. There’s apps that show you your fuel burn on a certain sector compared to everybody else. It’s subtle pressure and imho it’s going in the wrong direction, will cause some trouble ahead and then there will be a push in the other direction, negating it after all. I once saw an operator change acceleration altitude from 1500ft to 1000ft as it saves an estimated 17kg of fuel for each flight.
Sounds ridiculous when you’re burning 130 tons on a single leg, at least it did to me. Beancounters then explain that e.g. for 1000 take offs a day, it will save many many millions over 50 years. I just thought “think of how much fuel we could save if we don’t fly at all”, well…
Emir wrote:
I asked myself the same but then realized that accidents were covered by insurance.
Eventually, though, insurers will refuse to provide coverage, or will hike the prices greatly (especially to repeat offenders, and those cutting corners are likely to be repeat offenders).
I once saw an operator change acceleration altitude from 1500ft to 1000ft as it saves an estimated 17kg of fuel for each flight
I am sure they forgot about reverse tailwind gradient? this should keep beancounters busy for few weeks 
alioth wrote:
Eventually, though, insurers will refuse to provide coverage, or will hike the prices greatly
This is happening already.
alioth wrote:
especially to repeat offenders, and those cutting corners are likely to be repeat offenders
Unfortunately that is not how it works. Aviation is treated as one big cake by the insurers so every accident, no matter if it’s a C172 or a 747 has an impact on premiums for everyone. Seeing how GA premiums have skyrocketed and, particularly in the US, insurance is denied to people on shady grounds, getting insurance may end up being one big problem for all of aviation in the mid term.
And sometimes people just get things wrong. And even professional pilots are people.🙂
Thankfully it doesn’t happen often. Although the old Kai Tek airport at Hong Kong did have quite a few. Having flown in there as passenger on several occasions I could see how even a fully alert, wide awake crew could get a little stressed, let alone those that have already been working for 12 or more hours.
