British Airways has been flying empty planes (ghost flights) again. This time it flew three ghost flights at total distance of 15,000 miles, with no passengers on board, in little over a week.
The Telegraph reports that it flew empty 747-400s to Hong Kong and Bombay, with no one but the crews on board.
"Last Sunday, it flew one of the 300-plus seater jets 6,000 miles to Hong Kong, burning around 140 tons of fuel and emitting 329 tons of carbon dioxide. Passengers hoping to board the plane at Heathrow were told there were not enough crew available and took a later flight.
Yesterday, the airline continued with a flight to Bombay - and the return leg - despite there being no passengers on either sector.
The two flights clocked up 9,000 miles, burnt 200 tons of fuel and released 486 tons of carbon dioxide."
Showing posts with label emissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emissions. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Pensions Blackmail
The battle over Heathrow's new runway is becoming ugly.
Tory MP John Randall has accused British Airways of trying to blackmail retired staff into backing Heathrow expansion, by suggesting that their pensions may be at risk.
The Daily express reports that BA has sent a leaflet to former workers, urging them to write to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly to back plans for a third runway.
The pamphlet warns that the security of pensions for retired staff depends directly on the success of BA and Heathrow.
Willie Walsh (CEO) says that former employees have an important role to play in Heathrow's future; he notes that the Liaison Council, which represents retired staff, has backed the plans.
Shadow transport secretary, Theresa Villiers, weighed in as well and is quoted in the Express:
"Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of Heathrow expansion, former employees of British Airways should not be subject to this sort of pressure and manipulation ... people should be able to make up their own minds.
I am very concerned that BA has chosen to exert this pressure on its former staff, which I believe is inappropriate and unhelpful to the debate."
BA rejects the allegations:
"Any suggestion British Airways would bully any of its staff, retired or current, to support expansion is entirely without foundation. The Liaison Council operates independently of British Air-ways. It communicates with retired staff in the way it wishes."
This is not the first attempt by BA to encourage others to support its plans for a third runway. In November 2007 it wrote to all of its executive club members trying to drum up support.
In that letter Willie Walsh claimed that expansion would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 330,000 tonnes a year, because aircraft would no longer have to waste fuel queuing for take-off or circling while waiting to land.
It then transpired that, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the claim was not quite correct. ASA wrote to BA ordering it to withdraw the claim.
Tory MP John Randall has accused British Airways of trying to blackmail retired staff into backing Heathrow expansion, by suggesting that their pensions may be at risk.
The Daily express reports that BA has sent a leaflet to former workers, urging them to write to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly to back plans for a third runway.
The pamphlet warns that the security of pensions for retired staff depends directly on the success of BA and Heathrow.
Willie Walsh (CEO) says that former employees have an important role to play in Heathrow's future; he notes that the Liaison Council, which represents retired staff, has backed the plans.
Shadow transport secretary, Theresa Villiers, weighed in as well and is quoted in the Express:
"Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of Heathrow expansion, former employees of British Airways should not be subject to this sort of pressure and manipulation ... people should be able to make up their own minds.
I am very concerned that BA has chosen to exert this pressure on its former staff, which I believe is inappropriate and unhelpful to the debate."
BA rejects the allegations:
"Any suggestion British Airways would bully any of its staff, retired or current, to support expansion is entirely without foundation. The Liaison Council operates independently of British Air-ways. It communicates with retired staff in the way it wishes."
This is not the first attempt by BA to encourage others to support its plans for a third runway. In November 2007 it wrote to all of its executive club members trying to drum up support.
In that letter Willie Walsh claimed that expansion would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 330,000 tonnes a year, because aircraft would no longer have to waste fuel queuing for take-off or circling while waiting to land.
It then transpired that, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the claim was not quite correct. ASA wrote to BA ordering it to withdraw the claim.
Monday, 7 January 2008
Customer Manipulation
Back in November 2007 I, along with thousands of other BA Executive Club members, received an email from Willie Walsh (CEO of BA) asking me to support the creation of a third runway at Heathrow.
Walsh claimed that expansion would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 330,000 tonnes a year, because aircraft would no longer have to waste fuel queueing for take-off or circling while waiting to land.
It now transpires that, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the claim is not quite correct. ASA has written to BA ordering it to withdraw the claim.
Walsh's e-mail implied that the claim about CO2 reduction had been endorsed by the Government. However, he did not make it clear that the new runway would raise overall CO2 emissions by 2.6 million tonnes a year by allowing an extra 220,000 flights.
ASA has asked BA to confirm by January 9 that it will not repeat the claim.
BA should not have tried to manipulate their customers in this manner in the first place.
Walsh claimed that expansion would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 330,000 tonnes a year, because aircraft would no longer have to waste fuel queueing for take-off or circling while waiting to land.
It now transpires that, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the claim is not quite correct. ASA has written to BA ordering it to withdraw the claim.
Walsh's e-mail implied that the claim about CO2 reduction had been endorsed by the Government. However, he did not make it clear that the new runway would raise overall CO2 emissions by 2.6 million tonnes a year by allowing an extra 220,000 flights.
ASA has asked BA to confirm by January 9 that it will not repeat the claim.
BA should not have tried to manipulate their customers in this manner in the first place.
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
BA's Ghost Planes
Having upped fuel surcharges, BA is also flying empty planes across the Atlantic.
The airline industry is truly a law unto itself!
Source Telegraph:
British Airways is shuttling dozens of empty planes across the Atlantic because it has a shortage of cabin crew, it has emerged.
The "phantom" services have been flying between Britain and Canada and the US over the past two weeks in order to retain valuable slots at London's airports.
Several BA passenger flights took off without a single passenger, using up thousands of tonnes of jet fuel.
advertisementThe news emerged as the airline passed on the soaring cost of oil to customers by increasing its fuel surcharge on all flights.
Environmentalists accused the airline of "hypocrisy", saying the strategy underlined the aviation sector's indifference to the fight against global warming.
On Nov 4, BA flight 179 crossed the Atlantic to New York completely empty.
Another passengerless jet, BA flight 176, later flew back from the US to Heathrow airport.
According to ITV News, two further empty planes left Heathrow at the weekend - flights 093 to Toronto and 279 to Los Angeles.
At least two other empty flights - including one from Gatwick to Houston, Texas - have departed in recent days, it was reported.
A spokesman for British Airways admitted the airline had been having problems rostering cabin crew.
"We are trying to minimise disruption to customers," he added.
BA operates the empty services to avoid losing its take-off and landing slots under "use it or lose it" rules at the London airports.
Some of the aircraft are thought to be Boeing 747s, which when full carry between 500 and 600 passengers. Every return flight from London to New York generates about 1.3 tonnes of CO2.
A spokesman from Greenpeace said: "It's pretty outrageous that BA are flying these empty flights half way across the world whilst saying they’re trying to cut down on CO2 emissions.
"They should be setting a leading example. Thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide are being leaked out needlessly just so they can keep their slots."
Meanwhile, BA announced fuel surcharges would go up from £8 to £10 on short-haul flights, while passengers on flights of up to nine hours face a £48 fuel charge – a £10 increase.
BA raised the fuel surcharge on longer flights by £15, adding £58 to the price of a ticket.
Last night the airline said it had no alternative but to increase the cost of air travel, with some speculators prepared to bet on crude oil prices doubling by December next year.
Earlier this year it emerged that BMI, which operates as a British Airways franchise - was also running "ghost planes", between Cardiff and Heathrow.
BMI announced in March that it would scrap the six-times-a-week shuttle when it switched to a new timetable.
The flights were 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 Teheran. It was taken over this year by BMI.
The airline industry is truly a law unto itself!
Source Telegraph:
British Airways is shuttling dozens of empty planes across the Atlantic because it has a shortage of cabin crew, it has emerged.
The "phantom" services have been flying between Britain and Canada and the US over the past two weeks in order to retain valuable slots at London's airports.
Several BA passenger flights took off without a single passenger, using up thousands of tonnes of jet fuel.
advertisementThe news emerged as the airline passed on the soaring cost of oil to customers by increasing its fuel surcharge on all flights.
Environmentalists accused the airline of "hypocrisy", saying the strategy underlined the aviation sector's indifference to the fight against global warming.
On Nov 4, BA flight 179 crossed the Atlantic to New York completely empty.
Another passengerless jet, BA flight 176, later flew back from the US to Heathrow airport.
According to ITV News, two further empty planes left Heathrow at the weekend - flights 093 to Toronto and 279 to Los Angeles.
At least two other empty flights - including one from Gatwick to Houston, Texas - have departed in recent days, it was reported.
A spokesman for British Airways admitted the airline had been having problems rostering cabin crew.
"We are trying to minimise disruption to customers," he added.
BA operates the empty services to avoid losing its take-off and landing slots under "use it or lose it" rules at the London airports.
Some of the aircraft are thought to be Boeing 747s, which when full carry between 500 and 600 passengers. Every return flight from London to New York generates about 1.3 tonnes of CO2.
A spokesman from Greenpeace said: "It's pretty outrageous that BA are flying these empty flights half way across the world whilst saying they’re trying to cut down on CO2 emissions.
"They should be setting a leading example. Thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide are being leaked out needlessly just so they can keep their slots."
Meanwhile, BA announced fuel surcharges would go up from £8 to £10 on short-haul flights, while passengers on flights of up to nine hours face a £48 fuel charge – a £10 increase.
BA raised the fuel surcharge on longer flights by £15, adding £58 to the price of a ticket.
Last night the airline said it had no alternative but to increase the cost of air travel, with some speculators prepared to bet on crude oil prices doubling by December next year.
Earlier this year it emerged that BMI, which operates as a British Airways franchise - was also running "ghost planes", between Cardiff and Heathrow.
BMI announced in March that it would scrap the six-times-a-week shuttle when it switched to a new timetable.
The flights were 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 Teheran. It was taken over this year by BMI.
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