Reply to a Parliamentary Question shows during 18 months of Covid, around 15,000 “ghost flights” flew from UK airports
It has been difficult to obtain the data, from airlines, of the number of flights they operate that have no passengers, or are under 10% capacity. These are termed ghost flights, and are a terrible unnecessary source of carbon emissions. Now MP Alex Sobel has asked a parliamentary question, replied to by Robert Courts (Aviation Minister), giving some recent date for the UK. The responses, through the DfT and CAA, was that almost 15,000 “ghost flights” took off from the 32 UK airports between March 2020 and September 2021. Heathrow was top, with 4,910 ghost flights in that 18 month period. Manchester and Gatwick were the next highest. There were an average of 760 ghost flights a month over the period, although the data covered only international departure and not domestic flights. During the pandemic the slot use rules that had required 80% of slots to be used were completely suspended. Airlines did not have to operate flights to retain the slots, but nonetheless flew about 14,470 ghost flights. This was partly as demand for flying was so low, planes flew with just a handful of passengers.
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Airline emissions
Almost 15,000 ‘ghost flights’ have left UK since pandemic began
Exclusive: Thousands of near-empty planes flown since March 2020, new figures reveal
By Damian Carrington, Environment editor (The Guardian) @dpcarrington
Tue 22 Feb 2022
Almost 15,000 “ghost flights” have departed from the UK, according to newly revealed official figures. [Link to the data ]
The ghost flights, defined as those with no passengers or less than 10% of passenger capacity, operated from all 32 airports listed in the data.
See link for better quality image
Heathrow was top, with 4,910 ghost flights between March 2020 and September 2021. Manchester and Gatwick were the next highest. There were an average of 760 ghost flights a month over the period, although the data covered only international departure and not domestic flights.
Flying is one of the most carbon-intensive activities people can undertake and ghost flights have angered those campaigning for action on the climate crisis. The German airline Lufthansa recently warned it would have to fly 18,000 “unnecessary” flights by March in order to keep its landing slots at airports. Under current rules, airlines lose their valuable slots if they are not sufficiently used.
However, during the pandemic-hit period covered by the new UK data, the rules that had required 80% of slots to be used were completely suspended. Airlines did not have to operate flights to retain the slots, but nonetheless flew 14,472 ghost flights.
“Flights may operate with a low number of passengers for a range of reasons,” said the aviation minister Robert Courts, who produced the data 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.” Slot rules were partially restored in October 2021, requiring 50% usage, and this will rise to 70% at the end of March.
Anna Hughes, at Flight Free UK and whose parliamentary petition 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.”
“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] is hidden from public view, with airlines avoiding scrutiny by claiming the data is proprietary. No doubt airlines fear reputational damage, but the public and consumers should 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 tonnes of CO2,” he said.
The Guardian asked the Department for Transport for data on ghost flights in January, but was told the DfT did not hold this data. The Civil Aviation Authority, which provided the new data to the government, refused a freedom of information request from the Guardian, saying it did not have the consent of the airlines to release it. Slot rules are monitored and enforced by a company called Airport Coordination Limited, but it told the Guardian passenger numbers on flights could come only from the airlines themselves.
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet told the Guardian they did not operate ghost flights to retain slots, but declined to provide data on the occupancy of their flights.
A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said: “Covid-19 had an unprecedented impact on customer demand, with wide-ranging global restrictions that limited international travel. For three months during 2020, Virgin Atlantic did not operate any passenger flights. 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 said the increase in the required slot usage to 70%, the highest in the world, would lead to 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. (But it says it does not fly ghost flights, or low occupancy flights).
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.”
This article was amended on 23 February 2022 to include reference to easyJet among the airlines that told the Guardian they did not operate ghost flights to retain landing slots.
Parliamentary question and response on 10th February 2022
Alex Sobel MP asked:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of empty or almost empty flights that have left the UK by airport in each month since March 2020.
Robert Courts, MP – Transport Minister, replied:
The number of departing international passenger flights operating with no more than 10% of their available seats filled since March 2020 by airport and by month is presented in the attached document. This is based on data collected by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on commercial flight operations, and is currently complete until September 2021.
Departing flights may operate with a low number of passengers for a range of reasons. Since the onset of the pandemic, the Government has provided alleviation from the normal slot regulations that require airlines to operate 80% of their slots in order to retain them for the following season. This means that airlines have not been required to operate empty or almost empty flights solely to retain their historic slots rights.
As the pandemic has gone on and aviation demand has increased, the Government wants to encourage recovery. A draft Statutory Instrument setting out arrangements for Summer 2022 was published on 24 January 2022. To reduce the risk of airlines operating environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights, this legislation includes an enhanced justified non-utilisation provision, meaning that airlines will not be required to operate slots where markets are substantively closed to passenger traffic.
See link to the data
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See earlier:
DfT reinstates 70% slot use rule from end of March – with some flexibility for future Covid impacts
The Department for Transport has announced that airlines will have to hand back airport take-off and landing slots if they were not used 70% of the time from March 27th, for the summer period, up from the current threshold of 50%. Before Covid, airlines had to use 80% of their slots, or risk losing them. This limit was removed entirely for the first part of the pandemic, but reverted to 50% use. Airlines have warned they will be forced to run empty or half-empty and polluting “ghost flights” in order to meet the 70% limit, even if there is not enough demand for flights. This makes no sense, in terms of trying to reduce carbon emissions from the sector. However, the DfT has said there will be more flexibility, so airlines will be allowed to miss the 70% limit if there are real Covid travel restrictions in future, limiting travel. Airports like Gatwick are keen to have a high slot use requirement, so airlines that can not meet the quota have to relinquish slots to others – thus new airlines can start up routes. But for the airlines, high slot use requirements mean losing money – and higher CO2 emissions. They are against the re-imposition of high slot use requirements.
European airlines having to fly empty flights due to continuing slot use requirement
During the height of the Covid pandemic, the EU suspended the normal slot allocation process for airlines, that had forced them to use at least 80% of their slots – or lose them. The aim is to ration space at busy airports. During Covid, most airports had below half as many flights as in 2019. Now the EU has decided to start reinstating the slot use rules, and in December the European Commission set the threshold to 50% for the winter travel season. Lufthansa Group, which includes Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss said it would have to run18,000 unnecessary flights from mid-December to mid-March to comply. That is crazy in terms of carbon (and airline costs, for zero benefit). Lufthansa said it plans to cancel 33,000 scheduled flights by the end of March because of a slump in demand caused by Omicron. In the US, slot rules are still suspended. In the UK the partial suspension (50% use) continues until the end of March 2022. Greenpeace called the empty flights “absurd” and pointed to “a new low for the sector that is kept afloat with government support”.
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