Near-Empty Flights Fill Europe's Sky to Keep Landing Times
2022-01-10
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Europe's sky is filling with near-empty, polluting planes that serve little purpose other than to keep airlines' valuable time slots at some of the world's most important airports.
2The slots to fly into and leave from an airport for well-traveled routes are extremely important in the industry.
3To keep them, airlines must have a high percentage of flights.
4It is why flights are flown at a loss - so companies can keep their slots.
5It was an accepted system even with the pollution, but the pandemic decrease in flying has put that in question.
6Normally, airlines had to use 80 percent of their given slots to keep their rights.
7The European Union has cut that to 50 percent to make sure as few empty or near-empty planes are in the sky.
8The omicron variant of COVID-19 has reduced the number of people flying.
9An unlikely group has appeared: environmentalists and major airlines are working together.
10They want to cut down on empty or near empty flights by pressuring the European Union, a worldwide leader in fighting climate change, to change the rules on airport slots.
11One airline, the large German company Lufthansa, said it would have to fly an additional 18,000 "unnecessary" flights through the winter to hold on to landing slots.
12The holidays brought a big increase in people flying, but it also brought thousands of flight cancelations.
13The rest of winter, however, could be slow as omicron cases increase.
14The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States has let go of similar slot-use rules through March 26 because of the pandemic.
15Slots are limited only at a few airports.
16They include two airports near New York City, Kennedy and LaGuardia, and Reagan Washington National outside of Washington, D.C.
17Last month, when there was still hope the pandemic might finally get better, the European Commission confirmed the 50 percent rule.
18It said, however, that it would increase it to 64 percent at the end of March.
19Major airlines like Lufthansa, Air France, and KLM say they are counting on additional flexibility.
20This would include decreasing the number of flights for time slots.
21This puts the E.U. in a difficult situation.
22On one hand, it needs to make sure airport slots are open to fair competition.
23The competition permits new airlines to compete for the slots if they are not being used.
24On the other hand, it wants to prevent polluting planes from flying.
25E.U. Transport Commissioner Adina Valean last month recognized the threat of omicron to the travel industry.
26She has not announced any new regulations.
27Belgian Transport Minister Georges Gilkinet wrote Valean a critical letter and was pushing other E.U. politicians to join the movement and increase pressure.
28The letter, which The Associated Press received, said "The high-level pollution created by these flights runs totally counter to the E.U.'s climate objectives."
29I'm Gregory Stachel.
1Europe's sky is filling with near-empty, polluting planes that serve little purpose other than to keep airlines' valuable time slots at some of the world's most important airports. 2The slots to fly into and leave from an airport for well-traveled routes are extremely important in the industry. To keep them, airlines must have a high percentage of flights. It is why flights are flown at a loss - so companies can keep their slots. 3It was an accepted system even with the pollution, but the pandemic decrease in flying has put that in question. Normally, airlines had to use 80 percent of their given slots to keep their rights. The European Union has cut that to 50 percent to make sure as few empty or near-empty planes are in the sky. 4The omicron variant of COVID-19 has reduced the number of people flying. An unlikely group has appeared: environmentalists and major airlines are working together. They want to cut down on empty or near empty flights by pressuring the European Union, a worldwide leader in fighting climate change, to change the rules on airport slots. 5One airline, the large German company Lufthansa, said it would have to fly an additional 18,000 "unnecessary" flights through the winter to hold on to landing slots. The holidays brought a big increase in people flying, but it also brought thousands of flight cancelations. The rest of winter, however, could be slow as omicron cases increase. 6The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States has let go of similar slot-use rules through March 26 because of the pandemic. Slots are limited only at a few airports. They include two airports near New York City, Kennedy and LaGuardia, and Reagan Washington National outside of Washington, D.C. 7Last month, when there was still hope the pandemic might finally get better, the European Commission confirmed the 50 percent rule. It said, however, that it would increase it to 64 percent at the end of March. 8Major airlines like Lufthansa, Air France, and KLM say they are counting on additional flexibility. This would include decreasing the number of flights for time slots. 9This puts the E.U. in a difficult situation. On one hand, it needs to make sure airport slots are open to fair competition. The competition permits new airlines to compete for the slots if they are not being used. On the other hand, it wants to prevent polluting planes from flying. 10E.U. Transport Commissioner Adina Valean last month recognized the threat of omicron to the travel industry. She has not announced any new regulations. 11Belgian Transport Minister Georges Gilkinet wrote Valean a critical letter and was pushing other E.U. politicians to join the movement and increase pressure. 12The letter, which The Associated Press received, said "The high-level pollution created by these flights runs totally counter to the E.U.'s climate objectives." 13I'm Gregory Stachel. 14Raf Casert reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. 15_____________________________________________________________________ 16Words in This Story 17slot - n. a period of time that is available or used for a particular occurrence or event 18route - n. a way to get from one place to another place 19variant - n. something that is different in some way from others of the same kind 20flexibility - adj. willing to change or to try different things 21counter - adv. in a way that goes against or does not agree with something 22objective - n. something you are trying to do or achieve: a goal or purpose