From what I can see here, we agree that carbon pricing would make it harder to run ghost flights, it's just we can't be sure whether it would become impossible.

From what I can see here, we agree that carbon pricing would make it harder to run ghost flights, it's just we can't be sure whether it would become impossible. That depends on the details. But going back to my OP, I'm not that interested in ghost flights per se. I'm interested in the unnecessary CO2 they emit, and even there, mainly as a symptom of the broader problem of an unregulated, untaxed externality. I think this is the real reason to care about ghost flights. Someone could also care about ghost flights out of aesthetic opposition to waste or regulatory arbitrage, but I'm not interested in that.