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BA flies empty planes across Atlantic due to crew shortages

In a world thats becoming more aware of pollution and carbon footprints, it emerged yesterday that British Airways have been flying empty planes across the water to America because of crew shortages. Since 1st November, approximately one flight per day has been flown across the Atlantic with just pilots on board. For the return flight, there have been passengers on board - those who had previously made reservations. The airline said that it is having difficulties co-ordinating cabin crew across its 240 planes around the world. Taking into account the flight schedules and location of appropriate crew sometimes means that there is lack of cabin crew for specific flights. Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that BA were flying empty planes to ensure they kept hold of their Heathrow take-off and landing slots - of which BA has 41% of all slots at the airport. An airline must also use at a minimum 80% of the slots each year to retain them.

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