More than 1,500 ‘ghost flights’ took off from Manchester Airport during the pandemic, figures reveal.<\/p>\n
Airlines have operated more than 14,000 so-called ghost flights from UK airports during the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show.<\/p>\n
The international flights, which had no more than 10% of their seats filled, departed from 32 airports between March 2020 and September 2021, according to Government analysis.<\/p>\n
Heathrow had the most with 4,910 flights, followed by Manchester (1,548 flights) and Gatwick (1,044 flights).<\/p>\n
A total of 14,472 empty or nearly empty flights were recorded over the 19-month period, at an average of 25 every day.<\/p>\n
The figures include flights which were operated mainly to transport cargo or repatriate Britons stranded overseas.<\/p>\n
Airlines have traditionally run ghost flights when they need to hit the 80% threshold for using valuable take-off and landing slots at congested airports to retain the right to use them during the following year.<\/p>\n
The number of such flights has sparked concern about their environmental impact.<\/p>\n
\nOver an 18 month period, airlines flew 15,000 empty planes from UK airports, all so they could hold on to their airport landing slots.<\/p>\n
\t\tJust in case you were wondering how seriously the aviation sector is taking the #ClimateCrisis<\/a>… https:\/\/t.co\/ul8rhT5R9V<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\u2014 Greenpeace UK (@GreenpeaceUK) February 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n