More than 5,000 ‘ghost flights’ flew to or from the UK since 2019: Report

Data suggests more than 5,000 planes with zero passengers on board have arrived at or left UK airports since 2019.

Since 2019, more than 35,000 commercial flights have operated with less than 10% of seats occupied and nearly no passengers, according to a study of data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). There are now roughly 40,000 "ghost flights" in all.

For instance, 62 empty planes left Luton airport for Poland in one quarter, and 663 practically empty flights to and from the US were observed at Heathrow over the same period. In both quarters, the Covid-19 epidemic was present.

Climate advocates have focused on air travel because it produces more carbon emissions per hour than any other consumer activity and is dominated by a small group of frequent passengers. They referred to the phantom flight disclosures as "shocking" and asserted that both airport development plans and the necessity for a levy on jet fuel should be raised. Ghost flights are referred to as "environmentally damaging" by the UK government.

Ghost flights' motivations remain a mystery. Only airlines are aware of the causes, but they don't release information to support the practice. The "use-it-or-lose-it" airport slot rules may still be followed, even if they were halted at the height of the pandemic. Airlines also list Covid repatriation flights or aircraft repositioning as additional justifications. However, these cannot be confirmed, and activists said more transparency was needed.

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Since earlier data only included international departures, the new data provide the most complete picture yet of the number of UK ghost flights. It now includes flights within the UK as well as arrivals from outside. Following a series of FOI requests by the Guardian, the CAA will now publish this data on a quarterly basis.

Since 2019, the data indicates 130 completely empty flights every month on average. Before, during, and after the travel limitations imposed by the pandemic, the number of empty flights stayed at a comparable level, with the second-highest level occurring in the second quarter of 2022. This indicates that the airlines' decision to fly empty planes was not influenced by Covid's effects on aviation.

Since the beginning of 2020, when the Covid epidemic started, there have been 1,200 almost empty ghost flights on average each month. About 80 per centof these were to or from other countries.

(with inputs from agencies)