Special report
As debate rages over airlines running so-called ‘ghost fl ights’ in order to keep their fl ight slots at airports, many in the industry have pushed for the pre-Covid ‘use it or lose it’ rules to be re- established in full in order to promote healthy competition and encourage passenger uptake. Nicholas Kenny examines the arguments on both sides of debate, and what governments and regulators are doing to solve the underlying issues to this problem.
Haunted skies T
he best-known ghost story within the aviation industry is that of Eastern Air Lines 401 and, as with most ghost stories, it has a tragic beginning. Shortly before midnight on 29 December 1972 – while en route from New York JFK to Miami – the aircraft crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all three cockpit crew members, two of the ten flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers. The accident occurred after a burnt-out landing gear indicator light distracted the cabin crew, preventing them from noticing that the autopilot had become disconnected and, as a result, the aircraft gradually lost altitude and crashed. This was the first ever fatal crash of a wide-body aircraft – it was also the first hull loss and first fatal crash of a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar.
Over the following years, rumoured sightings began to circulate of the dead Captain Robert Loft and Second Officer Donald Repo, sitting on board
other L-1011s. Parts of the crashed aircraft had been salvaged after the investigation and refitted into other L-1011s. The reported hauntings were said to be seen only on aircraft that used spare parts salvaged from the crashed aircraft. While Eastern Air Lines publicly denied the veracity of the rumours and ordered staff to refrain from spreading them, the company reportedly removed all the salvaged parts from its L-1011 fleet. And, over time, the reporting of ghost sightings stopped.
In 2022, ‘ghost flights’ have hit the headlines once again, but now they are of a very different nature. In late January, airlines in the UK warned that they would be forced to run flights with less than 10% passenger capacity. This was due to new rules requiring carriers to fly more regularly to retain their lucrative take-off and landing slots at airports, sparking off a fresh debate.
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