The UK Government will look at plans by airline BMI to fly empty aircraft across Britain in order to keep lucrative slots at Heathrow airport, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament on Wednesday.

The airline has admitted that it would rather fly empty planes than cancel flights.

Brown was challenged during Prime Minister’s Questions by Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker to stop what he called an ‘environmental disgrace’.

Brown said it was ‘clearly unacceptable if airlines flew without any passengers whatsoever simply to maintain slots. We shall look into the matter (and) we shall talk to the airlines’.

The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday morning that the move was prompted by soaring fuel costs and lower passenger numbers as people rein in spending on items such as holidays.

It also reported that Flybe, advertised for actors to fly between Norwich and Dublin to boost passenger numbers after facing the prospect of losing £280,000 because it had not met a passenger target imposed by Norwich international airport as part of a commercial deal.

BMI deputy chief executive Tim Bye told the newspaper the airline would prefer to cancel uneconomic flights, typically those in the middle of the day from London to the North of England and Scotland, but ‘we have to fly that service eight out of 10 times’.

Slot allocation rules mean airlines must use their scheduled slots 80 percent of the time or forfeit them.

‘We have to keep flying to preserve our slots. What might have been a marginal service in most winters will become even worse, partly because of the price of fuel and partly because of the drop-off in demand that the general economic cycle will bring. Economic pressures will drive the demand down even more than airlines would normally expect,’ Bye said.

BMI owns 11 percent of Heathrow’s take-off slots, second only to the 41 percent held by British Airways and more than Virgin Atlantic.

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