Phantom flight service grounded
Dan Milmo
Monday March 12, 2007
The Guardian
The airline BMI is to scrap a phantom service after it emerged that the company is flying an empty passenger jet between Cardiff and Heathrow in order to retain valuable slots at the London airport. The 124-seat plane shuttles between the airports six times a week but carries no passengers and no tickets are sold. BMI operates the empty services because if it did not it would lose its take-off and landing slots under "use it or lose it" rules at Britain's biggest airport.
The flights are run by British Mediterranean Airways (BMed), a struggling carrier that operates as a British Airways franchise and runs services under the BA brand to destinations including Beirut and Tehran. It was taken over this year by BMI, which said yesterday the service would be dropped later this month, when the BMed flights switch to a new timetable.
"It is a BMed practice and it's not something that BMI does," BMI said. "It will come to an end at the end of the winter timetable on March 24."
An environmental group yesterday said BMed's strategy underlined the aviation sector's indifference to the fight against global warming. The group, Plane Stupid, said: "It is absolutely crazy that they are flying around these planes. It shows that airlines do not take climate change seriously. They have a free-for-all and they can do what they want." The 140-mile flight between Heathrow and Cardiff emits 5.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide.