Near-empty flights crisscross Europe to secure landing slots
Europe's sky is filling up with near-empty polluting planes that serve little other purpose than safeguarding airlines' valuable time slots at some of the world's most important airports. The highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 has put many off flying, and because of it, getting people and goods from point A to point B has become an afterthought for thousands of flights. It has created strange bedfellows, with environmentalists and major airlines united to cut down on empty or near-empty flights by pressuring the European Union — a pledged global leader in combating climate change — to tweak the rules on airport slots. “The EU surely is in a climate emergency mode,” activist Greta Thunberg tweeted sarcastically this week, linking to a story about Brussels Airlines making unnecessary flights. The company has said that if the EU doesn't take action, it would have to fly some 3,000 journeys this winter primarily to safeguard its network rights. Lufthansa said it would have to fly an additional 18,000 “unnecessary” flights through the winter to hold on to landing slots. Even if the holidays brought a big increase in passengers — marked by thousands of flight cancellations that left travelers stranded — the rest of the winter period could be slow as omicron surges worldwide. Normally, airlines had to use 80% of their given slots to preserve their rights, but the EU has cut that to 50% to ensure as few empty or near-empty planes crisscross the sky as possible. Just last month, when there were still some hopes the pandemic might finally wane, the EC confirmed the 50% rule but said it would be increased to 64% at the end of March. However, major airlines like Lufthansa, Air France and KLM say they are counting on further flexibility, including further decreasing the threshold level on the time slots. “More flexibility in the short term is required, not just in summer but also in the current winter schedule,” a Lufthansa statement said. "Without this crisis-related flexibility, airlines are forced to fly with planes almost empty, just to secure their slots.”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-01-07/star/near-empty-flights-crisscross-europe-to-secure-landing-slots
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/logo.png
Near-empty flights crisscross Europe to secure landing slots
Europe's sky is filling up with near-empty polluting planes that serve little other purpose than safeguarding airlines' valuable time slots at some of the world's most important airports. The highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 has put many off flying, and because of it, getting people and goods from point A to point B has become an afterthought for thousands of flights. It has created strange bedfellows, with environmentalists and major airlines united to cut down on empty or near-empty flights by pressuring the European Union — a pledged global leader in combating climate change — to tweak the rules on airport slots. “The EU surely is in a climate emergency mode,” activist Greta Thunberg tweeted sarcastically this week, linking to a story about Brussels Airlines making unnecessary flights. The company has said that if the EU doesn't take action, it would have to fly some 3,000 journeys this winter primarily to safeguard its network rights. Lufthansa said it would have to fly an additional 18,000 “unnecessary” flights through the winter to hold on to landing slots. Even if the holidays brought a big increase in passengers — marked by thousands of flight cancellations that left travelers stranded — the rest of the winter period could be slow as omicron surges worldwide. Normally, airlines had to use 80% of their given slots to preserve their rights, but the EU has cut that to 50% to ensure as few empty or near-empty planes crisscross the sky as possible. Just last month, when there were still some hopes the pandemic might finally wane, the EC confirmed the 50% rule but said it would be increased to 64% at the end of March. However, major airlines like Lufthansa, Air France and KLM say they are counting on further flexibility, including further decreasing the threshold level on the time slots. “More flexibility in the short term is required, not just in summer but also in the current winter schedule,” a Lufthansa statement said. "Without this crisis-related flexibility, airlines are forced to fly with planes almost empty, just to secure their slots.”<br/>
