The rise of ‘ghost flights’ points to inconsistencies in the EU’s climate commitment

It was called the ‘shame of flying’ and attributed to those who used the most polluting means of transport, the plane. But more than two years after the popularization of this climate campaign, the problem is not the passengers, but the lack of them. With the emergence of Ómicron, thousands of almost empty planes are taking to the skies with one goal: to preserve airline schedules at airports, despite the environmental impact and inefficiency.

The alarm was sounded by the German giant Lufthansa, which said it would have to make 18,000 “unnecessary” flights this winter to keep its landing strips at European airports. The Commission requires airlines to use at least 50% of their time slots or return them for reallocation to other airlines, thus ensuring fair competition. But if there are no passengers, some companies prefer to continue operating flights than to give up their schedules. A rule that was already softened by the pandemic, since before it was required to operate 80% of flights.

Voices for and against changing the rules of the game have been adding up since Lufthansa offered its data. “Ryanair has asked the Commission to ignore Lufthansa’s false claims about operating ‘ghost flights’ for the sole purpose of ‘blocking’ their slots,” the Irish company said in a statement, in which it also invited Lufthansa to lower the price of its tickets.

But the pressure is already there. Belgian Transport Minister George Gilkinet demanded changes to the system from Brussels. Their arguments have made a target in one of the great battles of the European Executive: the fight against climate change. According to the minister, ‘ghost flights’ risk undermining the EU’s ambitious emission reduction targets.

Tons of emissions

The calculation of the greenhouse gases generated by these semi-empty flights is difficult to do. It depends on the route, the model of aircraft, the cargo or the fuel used. And companies are not required to publish data. But the emissions would not be negligible. To put it in context, Lufthansa’s most common route in 2021 was Frankfurt-Berlin. This flight generates 4.8 tons of greenhouse gases. On international routes, its main route is Frankfurt-London Heathrow. Made on the A320neo, one of its main aircraft, the route would generate 5 tons of emissions, according to the Atmosfair calculator.

Greenpeace’s estimate goes further. They point out that only the ghost flights recognized by Lufthansa could emit about 360,000 tons of greenhouse gases, an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 240,000 diesel or gasoline vehicles. “And other airlines do not report the number of ghost flights,” they point out.

The problem is not real, according to Brussels. “There is no need to keep empty flights in the air. The decision to operate empty flights is commercial,” Transport spokesman Stefan De Keersmaercker said on Thursday. Still, they acknowledge that “empty flights are obviously bad.”

Making regulations more flexible

Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. They have doubled since the mid-80s, and the technological possibilities of reducing the gases that cause global warming in this sector are still very limited. “In the short term it would be advisable for the Commission to be able to revise that percentage, so that this season we can reduce as much as possible the flights without a ticket, especially because of the environmental cost it has and also because of the inefficiency of the sector. It is an unnecessary rigidity and inconsistent with the instruments of cutting emissions that Europe is endowed with, “says Pablo Muñoz, of Ecologists in Action.

The bump over passenger volume has not passed. Although November saw some recovery, according to Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), international ticket sales in December and early January have fallen sharply compared to 2019 following the emergence of Ómicron, “suggesting a more difficult first quarter than expected”.

“The problem of ghost flights has been recurrent since the pandemic began,” says Adrián Fernández, head of Greenpeace’s mobility campaign, which locates the origin of the problem in a regulation that, in his words, is a bit perverse. “If demand goes down, it forces behaviors like this. It calls into question the climate commitment.”

In the medium term, Muñoz is committed to a revision of the regulations. “It is a regulation that tends to cause there to be more flights, when the tendency should be that there are fewer.” It would be, he says, about refocusing the system and removing incentives for companies to operate semi-empty flights.

“There is a background, regardless of who is right, that the climate and the environment are the ones that lose. It shows how cheap it is for the airline industry to pollute,” says Fernández.

Source: ABC