With the outbreak of corona virus in Europe, aviation enthusiasts are coming across a new term: Ghost flight. What actually is it?
Ghost flying actually refers to flying an airplane in a commercial flight without passengers. For instance, if Air France flies from Charles de Gaulle (IATA: CDG), Paris to Heathrow (IATA: LHR), London without a single passenger, it
Perplexed!!! Lets make it simple.
The Slots
Airlines round the world fly different routes daily. every airline needs to receive two basic permits before it commences an international flight.
First one is the permission to fly to the destination country from the country where the airline has its base. This permission is issued by the destination country usually through its Civil Aviation Authority.
The second permit is slot approval. The slot is approved by airport authority of the destination airport where the airline wants to fly. Receiving approval of slots can be a very demanding task if the intended destination happens to be a particularly busy airport.
Image Credits
Creator: Sam Pollitt / Alamy Stock Photo
Slot Retention
Once the airline receives slot approval, it needs to operate a minimum number even though the passenger flow is not enough to earn profit, to retain its permit to fly. In other words, if the airline fails to operate the minimum number of flights, it risks losing the allocated slots.
In Europe, for example, some busy airports require airlines to operate minimum 80% flights in the allocated slots. Failure to operate the minimum number of flights may lead to fines by the airport authorities. In most cases may lead to termination of the approval.
The Ghost Flight
In order to retain the valuable slots, airlines have to operate the flight even though there are no passengers. Such flights, conducted without a single passenger is termed GHOST FLIGHT.
Hope the explanation is elaborate enough for understanding.
If you have any thing more to share on the topic, please share your ideas in the comments below.
