Airlines are forced to fly empty planes not to lose their airport slots and this has to stop. @lufthansa_group will be forced to fly the equivalent of 18,000 empty planes during the winter season in order to keep its valuable airport slots and @brussels_airlines has operated 3,000 empty or near-empty flights this winter to avoid losing take-off and landing rights at major airports.
Before the Covid pandemic, the rule was that airlines must operate flights in at least 80% of their scheduled take-off and landing slots, or they risked losing them. The European Union's ‘use it or lose it’ rule had been suspended in March 2020 but was brought back incrementally and now stands at 50% much higher than the actual number of flights needed to meet passenger demand. Keeping this rule doesn't make any sense in a climate emergency and is contrary to the EU objective of reducing greenhouse gasses by 55% by 2030.
https://simpleflying.com/lufthansa-ghost-flights/
Europa
Climate warning
