British Airways flies empty jets 15,000 miles

British Airways has been criticised for operating at least three long-haul "ghost flights" totalling 15,000 miles with no passengers on board in little over a week.
It flew empty 747-400s - the biggest planes in its fleet - to Hong Kong and Mumbai despite having nobody but the aircrafts' crews on board.
BA defended the flights, saying extra freight was loaded on to the planes so they were not "empty"
Last Sunday, it flew one of its 300-plus seater jumbo jets 6,000 miles to Hong Kong, burning about 140 tons of fuel and emitting 329 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Passengers hoping to board the plane at Heathrow were told that there were not enough cabin crew available and they took a later flight.
Today the airline continued with a flight to Mumbai in India - and the return leg - despite there being no passengers on either sector.
Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, described the "ghost flights" as "utterly ludicrous".
He said: "This is a stark example of the perverse way in which the aviation industry works.
17/03/08 Stephen Adams/Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2008