More than 14,000 “ghost flights” have departed from the UK during the pandemic, according to newly revealed official figures.
The ghost flights, defined as carrying no passengers or less than 10% of passenger capacity, operated from 32 airports in the UK, reported the Guardian.
Heathrow had the most, with 4,910 ghost flights between March 2020 and September 2021, followed by Manchester and Gatwick were the next highest.
Airlines can lose their airport landing slots if they are not sufficiently used but during the pandemic-hit period covered by the data, the rules that had required 80% of slots to be used were suspended.
“Airlines did not have to operate flights to retain the slots, but nonetheless flew 14,472 ghost flights,” reported the Guardian.
Aviation minister Robert Courts produced the Civil Aviation Authority data in response to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Alex Sobel.
Courts told the Guardian: “Flights may operate with a low number of passengers for a range of reasons.”
Sobel said on Twitter: “With computer modelling and modern logistics it’s easily possible to keep these flights to a minimum. For the sake of the #ClimateCrisis we must absolutely minimise these flights through efficiency.”
Anna Hughes, director at Flight Free UK, has launched a parliamentary petition on the issue, and Tim Johnson, director at the Aviation Environment Federation, said the public and consumers should be informed about “the scale of this wasteful practice”.
Slot rules were partially restored in October 2021, requiring 50% usage, and this will rise to 70% at the end of March.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic told the Guardian they did not operate ghost flights to retain slots, but declined to provide data on the occupancy of their flights.