Thousands of planes from some of Europe’s biggest airlines have been forced to fly empty planes in order to keep their prized departure and landing times at major airports.
Europe’s second biggest carrier, Lufthansa reports it had to operate 18,000 ‘ghost flights’ over the winter, despite the polluting effects of these flights running in direct opposition to the EU’s climate goals. Around 3000 of those flights were from the carrier’s subsidiary, Brussels Airlines.
This week, Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, denounced the unnecessary flights, tweeting: “The EU surely is in a climate emergency mode.”
A similar plea was made by Belgium’s federal mobility minister Georges Gilkinet to the EU, arguing that the extra services were baffling from both an economic and ecological point of view.
Major airlines forced to fly empty ‘ghost flights’ to keep prized times | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site
Major airlines forced to fly empty ‘ghost flights’ to keep prized times | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site
Ericson Report 