Thousands Sign Petition To Demand End To Ghost Flights

As airlines across Europe fly planes without passengers purely to hang on to take-off and landing slots, a UK parliamentary petition demanding an end to “ghost flights” has attracted more than 3,000 signatures.

- Simon Calder

Flying planes empty has long been used by airlines to preserve what is often their most valuable asset: permission to land at and take off from, high-demand airports such as London Heathrow.

In the industry, the practice is known as “keeping slots warm” – flying enough to adhere to the 80:20 rule that requires an airline to use a slot 80 per cent of the time. Any less, and the permit must be handed back.

Previous examples have included a British Mediterranean Airbus A320 shuttling between Heathrow and Cardiff after it ended a route to Tashkent in Uzbekistan, and Qantas running a chartered regional jet for a daily round-trip between Heathrow and Manchester.

More than 3,200 people have signed the petition, which begins: “End ‘ghost’ flights: reform historic rights to landing slots.

“Airlines have been flying planes empty to retain their landing slots. These ‘ghost’ flights are a shocking waste of resources and a needless source of emissions.

“At a time of climate emergency, we need to drastically reduce our fossil fuel use, and in the context of our steadily dwindling carbon budget, it beggars belief that planes fly empty.