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Lufthansa plane arrives in Germany for landing.Julian Stratenschulte/AP
This story was first published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Almost 15,000 “ghost flights”According to newly released official figures, they have left the UK.
Ghost flights were those without passengers or with less than 10 percent passenger capacity. They operated from all 32 of the airports included in the data. Heathrow was the top with 4,910 ghost flights in the period between March 2020 to September 2021. The next highest were Manchester and Gatwick. Although the data was only for international departures, there were an average of 761 ghost flights per month.
Flying is one of most carbon-intensive activities. Ghost flights have upset those advocating for action to address the climate crisis. Lufthansa, a German airline, recently warned it would have to fly 18,000 “unnecessary” flights by March in order to keep its landing slots at airports. If they are not used, airlines can lose their valuable slots under current regulations.
The rules that required 80 percent of slots be used during the pandemic-hit period, as per the new UK data, were suspended. Although airlines were not required to fly slots to retain them, they still flew 14,472 ghost routes. “Flights may operate with a low number of passengers for a range of reasons,” said the aviation minister Robert Courts, who The data were produced in response to a parliamentary question. “Since the onset of the pandemic, the government has provided alleviation from the normal slot regulations. This means that airlines have not been required to operate empty or almost empty flights solely to retain their historic slots rights.”
The Labour MP Alex Sobel, who asked the question and is chair of the net zero all-party parliamentary group, said: “To really tackle the climate emergency we need to ensure that our aviation sector is as efficient as it can be with its carbon output.”
Anna Hughes, Fly Free UK and whose Petitions to the parliamentary on the issue now has 11,000 signatories, said: “At a time of climate emergency we need to be drastically reducing our use of fossil fuel, not burning it in empty planes.”
Slot rules were partially restored in Oct 2021. They now require 50 percent usage. This will rise to 70% at the end March. “If more than 14,000 empty flights took off from UK airports when there was no requirement to retain landing slots, how many more will have taken off since?” said Hughes. “Of course, all flights harm the climate, which is why we also campaign for a reduction in demand, a tax on aviation fuel and more affordable trains. But preventing planes from flying empty should be an easy win for policymakers and the climate.”
Tim Johnson, at the Aviation Environment Federation said: “Information [on ghost flights]The data is kept secret from the public, and airlines avoid scrutiny by claiming that the data is proprietary. The airlines are not likely to want to be rebuked, but the public and consumers need to be informed. It shouldn’t take a parliamentary question to expose the scale of this wasteful practice.”
“The number of flights may be small in comparison to the overall total, but the effects on our climate add up when you consider the average short-haul flight emits between 13 and 20 metric tons of CO2,” he said.
The GuardianThe Department for Transport was not able to provide data on January ghost flights. The Civil Aviation Authority provided the updated data to the government but refused to release it to the public. GuardianIt claimed that it didn’t have permission from the airlines to release the information. Airport Coordination Limited monitors and enforces slot rules. However, it informed the GuardianOnly the airlines could provide passenger numbers for flights.
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, & easyJet all told the GuardianThey did not operate ghost flights to keep slots, but declined data on the occupancy.
A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said: “Covid-19 had an unprecedented impact on customer demand, with wide-ranging global restrictions that limited international travel. Virgin Atlantic did no passenger flights for three months in 2020. Any lower-occupancy flights that operated outside of this window were not ‘ghost flights’—they supported the global movement of people including returning foreign citizens and repatriated UK citizens.”
Both airlines stated that the increase in slot usage to 70%, the highest in the world would result in low-occupancy flights. Luis Gallego, the chief executive at IAG, BA’s parent company, said: “This decision would force airlines to operate flights with low load factors, which will generate unnecessary CO2 emissions. This is bad for the environment and detrimental to aviation’s efforts to tackle climate change.” Ryanair did not respond to requests for comment.
Tim Johnson said the slot system was unsustainable and outdated and that reform was needed, adding “Slots at congested airports can exchange hands for millions of pounds each so there are very strong incentives for airlines to keep using them, even when passenger demand is very low. The government should rule out airport expansion and instead focus on slot reform and other efficiency improvements.”
