ghost flights
Passengerless scheduled flights
Ghost flights are commercial airline flights operated with few or no passengers.
Airlines sometimes fly near-empty planes to retain valuable takeoff and landing slots at busy airports, which require a minimum number of flights to keep.
The practice drew criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic when airlines flew thousands of empty planes to maintain slot allocations: Environmental groups condemned the waste of ghost flights during the travel shutdown.
- slotNarrow slit for insertion
- airlinesCommercial flight operators
- airline industryCommercial passenger flight business
- runwaysPaved aircraft paths
- aircraftAirborne transportation vehicle
aviation · carbon emissions · carbon footprint · phantoms · jetliner · jets · government oversight · sustainability · climate change · environmental regulations · airports · airplanes · pilots · terminals · air traffic control · use it or lose it · Lufthansa · aeronautics