Almost 15,000 ‘ghost flights’ have left the UK since the Coronavirus pandemic started in March, according to new official data. Heathrow topped the list with 4,910 ghost flights between March 2020 and September 2021. Ghost flights are defined as flights without passengers or with fewer than 10% of their capacity. The airports of Manchester and Gatwick were second and third, respectively, in terms of ghost flights.
The plan is being criticized by environmentalists who claim that the carbon released during flights cannot be justified if the flight is unnecessary. According to newly published data, ghost planes took off from 32 airports. The data includes flights that transported cargo or returned British citizens who had been stranded abroad.
According to information provided by Robert Courts, the UK’s Aviation Minister in response to a parliamentary question, approximately 760 empty flights left the UK each month during that period. Due to the statistics only including international departures, the true numbers may be higher. Heathrow had its worst financial year in 2021, serving fewer passengers than in nearly 50 years.
It is possible for airlines to lose precious slots if they do not use at least 80% of the slots they have, according to aviation regulations. These guidelines were temporarily suspended after the April 2020 Coronavirus outbreak. 14472 empty planes were flown out of the United Kingdom despite the loosening of restrictions.
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