Until airlines tackle the scourge of ‘ghost flights’, Britain will never reach net zero
I was once the only passenger on a four-hour “ghost flight” across Europe. I loved it – the exclusivity, the speed, even the meals. But that was 45 years ago, when flying was quite rare and seemed glamorous. The idea that air travel might one day threaten future generations seemed very far-fetched.
But the facts change. Travel is now a global commodity, and aviation is the world’s fastest growing major source of climate breakdown emissions. Flying empty or near-empty planes around just to hold on to landing slots at airports now seems close to “ecocide” – an act of deliberate destruction of the environment. A staggering 15,000 ghost flights flew from UK airports between March 2020 and September 2021.
These flights are a symptom of an unregulated, highly protected industry encouraged to keep growing without responsibility. Before the pandemic, Britain had the third largest aviation sector in the world after the US and China. It has some of the most travelled people in the world, and its emissions from flying are the third highest per capita. The government subsidises the industry with huge tax breaks and handouts. And while the rest of UK industry has helped to reduce emissions by around 42% in the last 30 years, aviation has been allowed to double its own.
In 2019, aviation accounted for 8% of all UK emissions, and it shows no sign of slowing soon. The global industry may be slowly improving its efficiency, by about 2% a year, but passenger growth still surges ahead. Globally, a staggering 38,000 large planes are now expected to be flying regularly within 10 years – and the UK government expects more than 230 million more passengers a year will be using UK airports by 2050.
Never mind that the government’s climate adviser,
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