The origin of the 'ghost flight' disturbs London's sky

The world's most crowded Heathrow Airport (London) has 'no people' flights? Find out why there is 1-0-2 behind it.

If you have the opportunity to land at London's Heathrow airport , you will be overwhelmed by the tremendous passenger numbers of one of the busiest airports in the world.

It is estimated that Heathrow will receive 78 million passengers a year, equivalent to Chicago's O'Hare airport. But if O'Hare has 7 runways, Heathrow has only 2. Therefore, for airlines, Heathrow is indeed a "good bird land" with "crowded land".

Heathrow Airport has only 2 runways compared to O'Hare airport - 7.

That led to the airline not being able to park at Heathrow at any time. They were forced to buy a "pair pair" - a payment for the take-off space and landing at Heathrow. This bean is extremely expensive but always in a state of "burning" . Because there are only 650 pair pairs per day.

Consider the following example to see the cost of Heathrow. As of 2016, Kenya Airways still owns landing time at 6:30 and flies at 8:30 daily. This is considered a "golden time frame" that night flights from the US, Asia . are competing for each other.

The Middle East is no exception. Oman Air has broken the frame of 6:30 and 8:30 am from Kenya Airways with the amount of "deadly" 75 million USD - a record high ever.

As for Kenya Airways, they lost the prime time frame to exploit the African capital Nairobi to London because of the financial burden.

But buying a pair of slots is one thing, keeping it is another. If anyone buys a flight time frame but "only" exploits it less than 80%, be prepared to return to Heathrow because many other firms are waiting!

And this is the "ghost flights" - Heathrow's ghost flights . You must be dimly guessing why?

The crowded scene was so familiar at Heathrow.

This is as follows, in early 2007, British Mediterranean announced it would postpone indefinitely flight from London to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Normally this route goes from London at 2:35 pm and will return to London at 12 noon the following day.

The reason for postponing was political instability in Tashkent and according to the airline, which prevented them from getting back. They could not open a new international flight to replace this time frame. There is not enough time to recruit airport staff, luggage workers, interpreters and dozens of other jobs.

As a result, British Mediterranean suffered losses. They asked the crew to fly to Cardiff (the capital of Wales) at 2:35 pm, stay overnight and return to London the next afternoon. Note that this distance is only intact . 244km.

It is known that London flights - Cardiff does not carry passengers, only to meet the requirements of Heathrow's "80% or more time frame operation" . In general, it is for reservation !

Needless to say, British Mediterranean's work was disgusting for environmental protection organizations and many people, because the flight of less than 250km could produce up to 5 tons of toxic CO ₂ .

Even so, the airline's aircraft still regularly travel between London and Cardiff for months. After the incident, the name "ghost flight" - ghost flights also became very popular.

In fact, before that, the use of "non-passenger flights" took place but not as popular as British Mediterranean. After all, after consecutive losses, at the end of 2007, the company had to sell itself to the new owner.

After all, Heathrow is still extremely crowded!

Today, the "ghost flight" game seems to have disappeared after the British Mediterranean pain.

But its variant still exists. In winter when passenger demand drops, many airlines have cut long distances to increase domestic flights or short distances.

So far, Heathrow still has only . 2 runways and is being used up to 99% of capacity. The problem of buying and maintaining flight time is always a headache for airlines in Heathrow - the most crowded, expensive and unique airport in the world.