Spectre of ghost flights rises again

Environmental campaigners have reacted angrily to reports that Delta Airlines has become the latest airline to be found operating flights without any passengers on board.

According to a report in the Guardian, Delta Airlines said it was forced to run the flights in order to comply with Australian government rules which require in-bound flights to be sprayed with insecticide to prevent the spread of mosquito-born illnesses such as dengue fever and malaria. The spraying process is carried out at Heathrow airport which the company said required empty planes to be shuttled to the site for treatment.

"Materials used for this process are approved and available for use in the United States; however, according to US regulations, these treatments must be carried out at designated AQIS locations outside the United States," a Delta spokesperson told the Guardian.

Commenting on the operation of flights without passengers, and the resulting carbon emissions, UK environmental charity Campaign For Better Transport (CBT) said operating flights without passengers threatened to undermine airlines' other environmental claims.

“It’s about time the aviation industry recognised that flying empty planes to centralised decontamination centres makes neither economic nor ecological sense, " Richard George, CBT roads and climate campaigner told BusinessGreen.com. "Why these planes can’t be cleaned in the US, where they originate from, is beyond me, but perhaps if airlines weren’t so willing to fly empty planes about at the drop of a hat, people would take their environmental claims more seriously.”

In March 2007, British Mediterranean Airways (BMed) was criticised by environmental groups for operating empty flights between London's Heathrow and Cardiff International. The airline said it was forced to run the flights to keep its landing slots.

BA has also been accused of running empty flights over the Atlantic. Reports in the Daily Mail in November 2007 claimed the airline had operated dozens of empty flights because it did not have the staff to look after passengers.