Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly 's Saturday Night Takeaway has been caught up in an environmental storm after British Airways flew two empty planes across the Atlantic for the grand finale of the ITV series.
For the series' final instalment, several lucky fans were flown to the US from London Heathrow to watch the live recording at Universal Orlando Resort in Floria.
Once the winners and presenting duo were dropped off, the empty British Airways passenger jet reportedly flew back the next day before another empty jet subsequently made its way from London to pick up the guests and crew.
The two trips amount to 8,000 miles having been travelled without any passengers on board.
A British Airways Holidays spokesperson told Mirror: "We're pleased to have partnered with ITV and we purchased sustainable aviation fuel to mitigate the emissions associated with the charter flights operated as part of this trip
"We returned the aircraft to London and subsequently back to Orlando to continue flights for our customers over the busy Easter period and in addition, we offered cargo space on these flights.”
British Airways purchased the equivalent amount of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to cover all four legs that the aircraft completed during these flights as part of their partnership with ITV.
The SAF purchased for this flight will be put into the existing pipeline infrastructure that feeds directly into London Heathrow Airport through British Airways' partnership with Phillips 66. Using SAF provides lifecycle emissions reductions of over 80% compared to traditional fossil-based jet fuel.
BA explained they also offered cargo space to be purchased on the two journeys.
An ITV spokesperson told MailOnline: "Our partnership with British Airways Holidays covers the outbound and inbound flight that seats all our place on the plane winners and crew.
"ITV shows aim to achieve the highest standards of sustainability both on and off screen and our efforts have been recognised by achieving BAFTA's 'Albert Certification' standard which is the TV industry standard kitemark for sustainability in the UK and is a requirement for all ITV shows."
Each flight between London and Florida amounts to 4,336 miles each journey, meaning over the four trips British Airways flew over 17,000 miles for the show - with only two of the planes filled.
