London, ENGLAND — Certain airlines are wasting vast quantities of fuel by flying empty aircraft to various destinations in order to maintain rights to their slots. These flights, nicknamed ‘ghost flights’ are being carried out due to rules around airport slots – something that is especially important at busy airports where a slot at an ideal time of day may be hard to come by.

According to The Times, these ghost flights have been taking place because of European rules which state that operators can lose their airport slots if they aren’t being used. The rule is that airlines operating out of the continent need to run 80% of their slot allocations. According to policy, if this isn’t done then the airline can risk losing its slots to a competitor.

There were no airlines or airports specified in the reports of ‘ghost flights’.

An outcome of the coronavirus

Demand for flights has fallen drastically around the world due to government restrictions on travel. Additionally, demand is low due to personal precautions and worries around the outbreak. A number of nations have instituted policies that force travelers coming from known outbreak-countries to first be in a non-affected country for 14 days.

It is these policies, precautions, and fears that have kept travelers from booking flights. This has continued a chain reaction, with airlines seeing decreased demand and empty flights. Many airlines have suspended services to certain areas around the world.

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