Positioning aircraft?? If an a/c went tech in say Manchester, and they had a spare, and standby crew in standstead, they will fly it empty known as positioning the aircraft, to fly that rotation from MAN.
Or if the a/c sold no tickets, but the return leg is full, then they will fly that a/c empty to fly the return leg, which has the profits.
If no cabin crew is avail, but there is one for the return leg, they will fly it empty to fly the return.
Most times is positioning a/c to fly return flights, some airport have strict closing times, if the a/c didn't make it in before the closing time, then early morning rotations may be unable to operate, so they will fly an empty a/c in.
Makes full sense. This is an example, happens everywhere, as stated.
And to keep slots active, I believe if an operator doesn’t use their runway slots for x amount of time, they will lose them slots, worth Łthooousandssss.
To keep the slots, but meaning they fly empty, is more operationally beneficial.