572,806 annual flights. That is the total number of private flights in Europe in 2022, according to Greenpeace data. The European Business Association (EBA) raises them, in the Old Continent alone, to 700,510. This year, with data up to September, the number of routes carried out by these aircraft reaches 513,972 trips.
An increase that is also reflected in emissions that doubled last year to reach 3.3 million tons of CO2, the equivalent of those emitted annually on average by 555,000 inhabitants of the European Union. “These aircraft are capable of emitting in one hour two tons of CO2 on average and 14 times more than a commercial flight,” highlights Transport&Environment in a report published in 2022. For its part, the EBA defends itself with the argument that these flights barely account for 0.04% of the total emissions released into the atmosphere.
500 kilometers on average
Just half a tenth of the CO2 of the sector’s total, but it is very expensive. “The average occupancy is usually four passengers and, many times, they are even empty because they are repositioning,” denounces T&E. Among the most common flights is the Geneva (Switzerland) and Paris (France) route with more than 2,500 flights in 2022.
“We are talking about short and ultra-short flights,” warn Transport&Environment researchers. The average flight, according to data from the European Business Association, is 500 kilometers and in many cases the cities have a high-speed rail connection. This is the case of Geneva and Paris, but there are also others like London and Paris, which are linked by rails in a few hours.
ultra-short flights
500
kilometres
is the average route taken by these aircraft
A custom that is also repeated beyond the Atlantic. Until Elon Musk arrived at the offices of Twitter, now renamed X, the CelebrityJets account monitored the journeys and emissions of billionaires. Among them could be counted the 36 minutes that it took Taylor Swift to travel through the air the little more than 500 kilometers that separate Missouri from Nashville in the United States or the 10 minutes that the boxer Floyd Mayweather used in Las Vegas.
«It is time for us to put an end to private planes as the most unequal and polluting means of transport. The ban on private planes would be a good sign of justice for European citizens in the context of the current climate emergency,” they point out from Greenpeace Spain.
Spain, among the most common
To stop its advance, several countries in the European Union have set to work at the time to try to reduce, limit or, outright, prohibit this type of transport within the reach of a few. The issue has been on the discussion table in Brussels on many occasions, but the European Commission, so far, has not taken the step in legislative matters.
One of the proposals has been to tax the use of kerosene, as is already happening in some community countries such as Italy. In the European Union, these types of flights are considered business, and in the same way as commercial flights, they are exempt from fuel taxes. In the Brussels plan, baptized as Fit for 55, this tax appeared that if it went ahead “325 million euros could be collected annually if it were applied to all flights leaving the EU and the United Kingdom,” highlights T&E. “The revenue raised in this way could be used to accelerate the decarbonization of the aviation sector,” they add.
Exclusive flights available to a few. The clients of this type of service are usually artists, footballers, politicians, kings and millionaires and they have something in common: the Dassault Falcon 900EX, one of the most polluting turbine aircraft, according to several scientific studies.
This plane is the tenth with the most registered units in Europe and among which is the Kingdom of Spain with the ship used by the Government for its travel.
Paris brings together almost 9% of private air traffic in Europe
Thus, last year, a total of 700,510 private flights crossed the skies of Europe with a clear origin and destination. This year, so far, the figure is 513,972 and Paris is the preferred operations center for these jets. The French capital accounts for almost 9% of private air traffic. In Spain, the Barcelona – Madrid route is the most frequented within Spain for private flights.
Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza are two of the most used airports for these purposes and account for just 2% of private routes. However, Spain is one of the 5 countries with business trips, according to the association that brings together this sector.
According to Greenpeace data, Spain recorded 45,633 private jet flights at its airports. “That is 8% of the total,” the environmental organization warned in March. In terms of emissions, these takeoffs, landings and journeys accounted for a total of 243,900 tons of CO2, “which is equal to the annual average CO2 emissions of 162,567 cars,” Greenpeace denounces.
At the moment, the European Commission has not yet considered limiting or eliminating this mode of transport. At the request of Austria, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, Adina Valean, European Commissioner for Transport, responded in the summer: “We have no idea of presenting anything on this issue. “We must allow the sector to develop its own decarbonization standards.”
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