The advantages – if you can afford them – are undeniable: space, privacy, time savings, luxury. During the pandemic, the benefits of private jet travel have been amplified, allowing able-bodied passengers to escape lockdowns and avoid larger crowds.
The number of private jet flights during the pandemic therefore increased significantly. By August 2020, when scheduled flights were down 60 percent year-on-year, private jet traffic had already returned to pre-2019 levels. And the sector is constantly growing. According to the flight data service WINGX, business jet flights in January were only slightly above the same period last year, but a good ten percent above January 2019.
Steady upswing
Finding figures for Austria is not that easy. When asked by ORF.at, the local Austrocontrol could not give any specific figures, and there are no own evaluations. The Ministry of Transport published a survey of the Austrian aviation companies, but already in 2015. A lot has happened in the sector since then, at that time there was even the airline Niki. Therefore, this data is hardly useful anymore.
Statistics Austria, on the other hand, has an evaluation of air traffic in 2021. According to this, two years ago there were 118,816 scheduled flights and 5,875 “occasional flights”. The average number of passengers per flight fell by 13 percent compared to 2017.
Even more meaningful is the share of “taxi and society flights” in commercial air traffic. According to the evaluation, there were almost 107,500 starts in this category in 2021 – with just over 115,000 passengers.
The latest data, which the website of the Austrian Business Aviation Association (ABAA), the trade association for companies active in domestic business aviation, shows, comes from 2017. As a result, business flights made up around twelve percent of air traffic even then, including but also ambulance flights. In 2017, more than 20,600 such flights took off in Austria, an increase of over 1,100 compared to the previous year.
Ten million tons of CO2
Not only is the number of flights by private jet increasing, but also the associated emissions. There are no official figures, but NDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung” recently evaluated data on routes flown, aircraft types used and kerosene consumption and calculated the amount of greenhouse gases that private jets caused in Europe last year: it was around ten million tons.
Greenpeace told ORF.at that private jets caused emissions averaging 1.3 kilograms of CO2 per person and kilometer. “That is ten times that of a normal flight and even 50 times more than an average train journey in Europe.”
According to the European environmental umbrella organization Transport & Environment (T&E), CO2 emissions from private jets in Europe increased by almost a third (31 percent) between 2005 and 2019 – significantly faster than emissions from commercial aviation. A four-hour private flight emits as much CO2 as an average person in a year. “Flying in a private jet is probably the most polluting thing you can do. And yet super-rich polluters are flying around as if the climate crisis didn’t exist,” said T&E’s Andrew Murphy in his analysis.
Short distances with empty passenger compartments
Great Britain and France are numerically the pioneers. Every tenth private jet flight started in France – while half of these flights were distances of less than 500 km. In general, around 40 percent of the flights are empty transports, they only fly to bring the jets to the right place.
According to Greenpeace, many of the private jets only fly short distances. Compared to commercial aviation, they would be used twice as often for very short routes, less than 500 km, within Europe. These distances correspond to the operating range in which aircraft are least efficient and particularly harmful to the climate.
But interest continues to grow, for a number of reasons. In most European countries, private jets are not taxed despite their climate damage. They are exempt from EU emissions trading, which has been in effect since 2012. Even the recent expansion of trade hasn’t changed that. There is also no kerosene tax.
Extended group of interested parties
The super-rich and those interested can choose between several options for traveling by private jet: there are memberships (around 5,000 euros per flight hour), on-demand charter flights, full or partial ownership. The average private jet owner has a net worth of $1.3 billion.
A number of providers are now also trying to lower the inhibition threshold and open up private jet flights to a larger group of people. More and more people are also using private jets for vacation trips, with flights to Ibiza and Nice peaking in summer, according to the environmental association. Last year there was also a record in sales of private jets.
In the UK, a company has been offering private jet flights for pets since January, the Guardian reported. For this, the company G6 Aviation is overwhelmed with inquiries. The interested parties are not mainly the super-rich, but people who move from one country to another. “More than ever, people are willing to spend more money and fly their pets in a private jet,” said company boss Adam Golder.
Rich and beautiful on the jet
The role model effect of celebrities who brag about their private planes on social networks could also play a role. Taylor Swift’s or Jay-Z’s jets can be tracked on the web. So everyone in the world can see who is flying where.
Tesla founder Elon Musk was also tracked, which resulted in a sensational argument with a user. Influencers like Kylie Jenner like to post photos of themselves on a jet, flying from one hotspot to the next. Jenner got a shit storm because she also used the jet for short distances. “Shall we take mine or yours?” Was written in a now-deleted post that showed two of her family’s jets on the airfield.
private machines
What is commonly called a “private jet” does not have to be a jet. However, many machines have jet propulsion systems. Private jets can be “light”, “midsize” or “large” jets. Other drives are also possible, for example in turboprop machines (propeller turbine jet engine).
The boss of the luxury goods group LVMH, Bernard Arnault, even sold his private jet to avoid online surveillance. “Now no one can see where I’m going because I’m leasing planes,” Arnault said, according to the Guardian.
call for consequences
In view of the increasing numbers, some environmental groups are hoping that precisely this clientele could drive more innovations towards less environmentally harmful air travel. Those who use private jets are “those who can afford to innovate. At the moment there are about test aircraft with electric and hydrogen fuel cells,” Matt Finch of T&E told the newspaper. “There are advances, and they are becoming more and more available for commercial use.” For others, of course, this is too slow, the only way is to fly less.
Greenpeace is calling for a ban on private jets in the EU. “In view of the global energy crisis and the escalating climate crisis, it is time to abolish private jets as the most unequal and polluting means of transport,” it told ORF.at.
