A budget airline has admitted that it has recruited temporary staff to be passengers on flights between Norwich and Dublin today.
Flybe says it has had to take this step to save money because Norwich Airport will penalise it if does not reach passenger number targets.
But environmental campaigners have accused the airline of scheduling unnecessary flights.
Flybe has scheduled two extra flights from Norwich to Dublin today and it says it hopes to fill the planes with paying passengers. But if that is not possible, it will use temporary staff to make up passenger numbers.
Flybe is trying to achieve 15,000 passengers on the Norwich-Dublin route over the 12 months ending today and so gain a rebate of £280,000 in passenger charges from Norwich Airport.
But Norwich Airport management says the airline is acting irresponsibly and it will not pay a rebate based on bogus passenger numbers. It says its agreement with Flybe is based on fare-paying passengers.
Flybe says it will pay to offset the carbon emissions caused by today's extra flights.
