Flying a Plane on Empty

It may seem unbelievable, but there are cases of airplanes being flown without any passengers on board. The most recent is a U.K. based airline that in trying to maintain its slot out of London Heathrow Airport, is flying one of its planes without passengers. Not surprisingly, this is making environmental groups and others very upset.

According to the BBC, BMed has been flying several roundtrip flights per week without passengers from London Heathrow to Cardiff. All this has been happening since October. The BBC looks at the controversy and the reasons why this is occurring.

Air travel is criticized for the amount of gas emissions that flights release into the atmosphere, and contributing to global warming. There is a growing movement to make a smaller environmental imprint, by becoming carbon neutral - effectively paying for the pollution we cause by contributing to projects that do not contribute noxious gas and toxins into the environment. The air travel industry has begun to join this trend. What does it mean to be carbon neutral, and to have carbon neutral flights? I've tried to answer these questions, as well as providing useful links and resources in Carbon Neutral Flights - Making Air Travel More Environmentally Friendly.