Almost 15,000 ‘ghost flights’ have left UK since pandemic began

Exclusive: Thousands of near-empty planes flown since March 2020, new figures reveal

Almost 15,000 ghost flights" have departed from the UK, according to newly revealed official figures.

The ghost flights, defined as those with no passengers or less than 10% of passenger capacity, operated from all 32 airports listed in the data. Heathrow was top, with 4,910 ghost flights between March 2020 and September 2021. Manchester and Gatwick were the next highest. There were an average of 760 ghost flights a month over the period, although the data covered only international departure and not domestic flights.