European airlines actively flew thousands of completely empty ghost flights during the pandemic just to maintain their premium landing slots at major airports under outdated aviation regulations.

A closer look

European airlines actively flew thousands of completely empty ghost flights during the pandemic just to maintain their premium landing slots at major airports under outdated aviation regulations. Giant commercial jets were burning tons of jet fuel and dumping carbon into the atmosphere, ferrying exactly zero passengers between cities because an old legal framework said they had to use the runway or lose it. We are constantly being told to use soggy paper straws and turn off our lights to save the planet, while massive corporations are casually flying empty metal leviathans across the continent to protect their real estate. It perfectly highlights how bureaucratic red tape will always override basic environmental common sense when profit margins are on the line