Airlines still operating 500 ghost flights a month

There are still hundreds of so-called ‘ghost flights’ taking off from UK airports each month.
Between October and December 2021, there were 500 ghost flights a month according to a freedom of information request obtained by the Guardian
A ghost flights is one that flies empty or under 10% of capacity.
Almost 15,000 flight have flown from the UK since the start of the pandemic.
Normally airlines must use 80%:of their allotted slots, although this had been reduced due to the pandemic.
A petition was presented to parliament earlier this year demanding an end to ghost flights.
“If people choose to fly less for environmental reasons – as we are campaigning for them to do – we would expect the market to reflect that,” Anna Hughes, director of Flight Free UK, said earlier this year.
“If planes continue to fly empty because they are concerned about ‘use it or lose it’ rules, it doesn’t allow the market to adapt to shifting demand.”
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