PRIVATE JETS ARE 50X MORE POLLUTING THAN TRAINS

According to European NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) private jets are five to fourteen times more polluting than commercial planes on a per-passenger basis and 50 times more polluting than trains.

T&E advocates banning fossil-fuel-powered private jets from 2030 for journeys under 1000 km and a high carbon tax in the interim.

If anything, that’s a more moderate demand than most climate change groups, who want to see private jets banned completely.

The backdrop to this has been a year of sustained protests and activity against business aviation and private jet users. This has seen business aviation framed as a sign of wasteful excess by the ultra-rich, contributing to climate change.

For example, the Summer of 2022 saw many celebrities branded “climate criminals” on social media for flying on private jets, often for relatively short distances.

Then in late 2022 and early 2023, environmental campaigners turned up at private aviation terminals worldwide, calling for private jets to be banned for climate reasons.

Finally, in April 2023, environmentalists celebrated their first significant victory when Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport announced that private jets would be banned from 2025.

Why is private aviation getting so much criticism when industry spokespeople constantly point out that its total share of emissions is low compared to commercial airlines?

What response should the sector be taking? Is there scope for business aviation to become a sustainable aviation laboratory where new technologies are tested first? And which next-generation aircraft makers are developing executive jets?

These are all points we will address in this report from SimpliFlying.