EU frees airlines to halt ‘ghost flights’ in coronavirus fightback

Brussels has reacted to the coronavirus epidemic by suspending the EU’s use-it-or-lose it rules on airport landing slots, freeing airlines to halt “ghost flights” in which planes have been taking off without any passengers. The aviation sector has been badly hit by the crisis after a collapse in customer demand and the requirement under EU rules that they use 80% of their allocated slots or risk losing them to a competitor. The UK and its airlines remain tied to the EU rulebook until the end of 2020. Virgin Atlantic is among the carriers flying planes that are “almost empty” to keep takeoff and landing slots. The EC president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she feared the situation for the aviation industry would only worsen in coming days and weeks. "The coronavirus outbreak has a major impact on the European and international aviation industry. We see that the situation is deteriorating on a daily basis, and traffic is expected to decline further. And this is why the commission will put forward very rapidly legislation regarding the so-called airport slots,” she said. “We want to make it easier for airlines to keep their airport slot, even if they do not operate flights in those slots, because of the declining traffic.”<br/>