(SIM) NO CHANGE ON POLLUTING GHOST FLIGHTS

A “ghost flight” occurs when airlines continue to fly routes despite having no passengers on board. A lot has been heard about these flights, both during and even before the pandemic, but why exactly do they happen?

The reason ghost flights exist is so that they can keep their slots at airports. This is a rule that is enforced by the European Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States, known as the “use it or lose it” rule.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines were required to abide by the 80:20 rule which means the airlines will have to use at least 80% of their slot time to be entitled to keep their designated slots. During the pandemic, this was reduced to 50:50 but now, as the restrictions have been lifted, it has been brought back up to 70% of slot use from March 27th.

Chief executive Carsten Spohr of the Lufthansa Group has stated that due to this “use it or lose it” rule…

“…we will have to carry out 18,000 extra unnecessary flights just to secure our take-off and landings right.”

Greenpeace estimated that around 100,000 European ghost flights took off over the past winter. These ghost flights will cause the generation of roughly 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions of more than 1.4 million cars per year.

Numbers like these can add significantly to the amount of carbon dioxide released into the climate. This is especially critical given that travel is a sector that is set to grow at 4% per annum from the 8% currently. There is an ongoing petition to “end ghost flights” that needs 100,000 signatures by July 14, 2022, to ensure it is put up for debate in parliament.

While Lufthansa seems to think this is a real issue, the Group CEO of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, seems to think he has the solution for all of Lufthansa's problems. He believes eliminating the need to fly 18,000 unnecessary flights is simple if Lufthansa were to “just sell these seats to consumers.” According to Bloomberg, he said that,

“Lufthansa loves crying crocodile tears about the environment when doing everything possible to protect its slots.”

Not only is the feud between O’Leary and Spohr amusing, but it does raise questions about why Lufthansa can't price these tickets lower to appeal to a wider market of customers. While this could fill up the plane, the idea gets shut down by Lufthansa's CEO who feels Ryanair’s €5 fares are “irresponsible”.

Feuds aside, the real impact on the environment due to ghost flights is unknown. Airlines have no choice but to keep running these ghost flights so that they can keep their slots. Critics say the practice is at odds with the immediate requirement to reduce GHG emissions and our overall dependence on fossil fuels. Simply Flying - link - Jack Bailey - link - more like this (aviation) - link

Question:- why isn't the retention of slots based upon the percentage of seats filled per flight?