Nine out of ten flights cancelled as world shuts down air travel

YOU may still see the occasional aeroplane in the sky, but Birmingham Airport is a shadow of its former self during the coronavirus lockdown.

More than nine out of 10 flights have been cancelled as a result of social distancing and governments around the world shutting down travel.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 recorded just eight departures from Birmingham Airport last week.

That compares to 345 flights in the week up to the UK’S lockdown meaning a drop of 98% in take-offs.

Those flights that remain are not carrying many people - often they are cargo and freight journeys.

When a passenger aircraft is used to carry cargo, most of the seats can be covered with netting so that effort to meet the demand in the UK for cargo such as medical supplies, component parts for projects to manufacture respirators and personal protective equipment (PPE) in recent days.

The drop in flights is expected to have environmental benefits, at least in the short term.

Aviation is the biggest contributor to climate change when it comes to transport, with domestic and international flight emissions accounting for 2.4% of worldwide energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019.

In 2016, a UN deal between 192 countries agreed to set carbon emissions limits from international flights at 2020 levels, meaning that 2020 emissions will be used as a baseline going forward.

The drop in the number of scheduled flights is expected to keep aviation emissions unusually low this year, and may mean airlines will have to stay within a tighter limit than they had expected.

Speaking at a hearing of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, Katherine Kramer, global head of climate change policy at Christian Aid, said: “One possible benefit for this virus, if you can see any light in this particular tragedy, is that their baseline is 2020, and at the moment aviation is, as we know, kind of flat-lining.”

However, others believe any drop may not be sustained.

Fatih Birol, executive director at International Energy Agency (IEA), said: “We may well see CO2 emissions fall this year as a result of the impact of the coronavirus on economic activity, particularly transport.

“But it is very important to understand that this would not be the result of governments and companies adopting new policies and strategies.

“It would most likely be a shortterm blip that could well be followed by a rebound in emissions growth as economic activity ramps back up.”

supplies can travel in the cabin as well as in the belly of the plane. Normally, most of the world’s air cargo is transported in the hold of passenger aircraft. But with the majority of airliners grounded, cargo companies have had to step up their operations in an