Narrative:

Air carrier X departed bos to jfk via preferred routing over CCC rober jfk. Due to volume; I was holding at CCC. At the time I was working jfk departures and holding 5 arrivals. When air carrier X checked on; I advised him to maintain 250 KTS now and expect holding at CCC. He told me he would have to check; was unsure if he had enough fuel to hold. He advised he could slow but not hold. I advised that was not an option due to other aircraft holding already. I asked for his alternate. He said he did not have one. I issued holding at CCC and he told me that his dispatch told him to go back to bos. I do not understand how an aircraft can depart bos to jfk and not have enough fuel to even make one spin at the holding fix. Recommendation: put more fuel on aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZBW chronicles a fuel return to the departure airport event when traffic from BOS to JFK was forced to return to BOS because of holding for JFK.

Narrative: Air Carrier X departed BOS to JFK via preferred routing over CCC ROBER JFK. Due to volume; I was holding at CCC. At the time I was working JFK Departures and holding 5 arrivals. When Air Carrier X checked on; I advised him to maintain 250 KTS now and expect holding at CCC. He told me he would have to check; was unsure if he had enough fuel to hold. He advised he could slow but not hold. I advised that was not an option due to other aircraft holding already. I asked for his alternate. He said he did not have one. I issued holding at CCC and he told me that his Dispatch told him to go back to BOS. I do not understand how an aircraft can depart BOS to JFK and not have enough fuel to even make one spin at the holding fix. Recommendation: put more fuel on aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.