Click to play videoLondon: British Airways has landed neck-deep in trouble with environmentalists.
Like many other companies, the British carrier had promised to makes its business greener.
However, it's come to light that BA planes have been flying thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean without a single passenger on board.
Over the last two weeks, British Airways has flown dozens of these "ghost flights" between London and New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and other cities.
In an official statement, BA admitted to having staffing problems.
"Recently, we've experienced a temporary unavailability of cabin crew to work on certain flights," said the statement. "It has been necessary to fly aircraft with only pilots and cargo on board to minimise disruption to customers."
This came in the wake of the airline's announcement that passengers would be expected to pay more to cover soaring fuel costs.
A typical trans-Atlantic flight would use over a hundred tons of fuel at a cost of more than $200,000.
"I think passengers who booked in the lowest of seasons - in mid-November - are still being hit for big fuel surcharges are going to be appalled that an airline the size and scale of BA simply doesn't have enough cabin crew on the right days," said an analyst.
Airline analysts also say that BA may be trying to hold on to valuable take-off and landing slots at London airports, a claim which BA vehemently denies.
Whatever the reason may be, environmentalists are enraged
"It's flying these ghost flights and spewing out thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions! It's an absolute disgrace," fumed an ecologist.
BA, meanwhile, says the decision to fly empty planes has not been "taken lightly" and they're striving to correct the problem as soon as possible.
But till that time, thse ghost-flights threaten to haunt the airline's brand and business.
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