A pre-1993 EU regulation required European airlines to maintain empty or near-empty flights
A pre-1993 EU regulation required European airlines to maintain empty or near-empty flights
With flights for business or pleasure declining due to the ongoing pandemic, airlines attempting to maintain market share are complaining about ‘ghost flights’ they are being forced to fly. Used to be.
An EU regulation that dates back to 1993 required European airlines to maintain empty or near-empty flights to maintain their take-off and landing slots. This is done to avoid assigning slots to other airlines who may enter a competitive or new market. Typically, these airlines are required to use up to 80 percent of their slots to secure them. Due to the pandemic, this limit was temporarily reduced to 50 per cent of booked flights, but as this winter ends in March 2022, it will rise to 64 per cent once again. Essentially, airline operators must prove that they have sufficient market demand to justify their holding. According to the European Commission website, this ‘use it or lose it’ system is employed “to ensure that airlines have access to the busiest EU airports, based on the principles of neutrality, transparency and non-discrimination.” have access.”
Greenpeace, a global network of independent propaganda organizations that promotes solutions to global environmental problems, analyzed that there were more than 100,000 wasted ‘ghost flights’ in Europe that are causing climate damage equivalent to emissions from 1.4 million cars .
It is a well-known fact that the aviation sector is responsible for a significant amount of carbon emissions worldwide. One analysis shows that taking a long-haul flight leads to more carbon emissions than the average person in dozens of countries throughout the year. According to a Greenpeace analysis, ‘this number of flights causes climate damage equivalent to 2.1 million tons of CO2’ and other greenhouse gases. This loss is equivalent to emissions from an average of 1.4 million petrol or diesel cars in a year.
Apart from Lufthansa Group, no other airline has reported the number of its ghostly flights. The group estimated that based on their market share in Europe they would operate about 18,000 empty flights alone. By the same logic, the total number of ghost flights in Europe may exceed 100,000.
Greenpeace has called on the European Commission and national governments to end regulation that requires the maintenance of ghost flights and to ban short-haul flights where there is an alternate train route within six hours. Is.