When the COVID-19 pandemic brought air travel to a halt three years ago, one segment of the travel industry thrived: private jet travel, an ultra-luxury mode of transportation enjoyed by a small portion of the world’s richest.
Private travel is the definition of exclusivity. The typical private jet owner has a net worth of $190 million, according to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies released Monday. However, the number of private flights reached a record high last year, the left-leaning think tank found, causing an alarming increase in carbon emissions.
In fact, while flying causes more carbon emissions than any other form of transportation, private jets are by far the worst. According to , a person traveling on a private jet emits 10 to 20 times as much carbon pollution as a passenger on a commercial airline. Transport and the environmenta European clean transport group.
In 2020, only about 0.0008% of the world’s population owned a private jet, IPS calculated. However, private flights in the United States that year pumped as much greenhouse gas pollution into the atmosphere as all bus trips in the country, according to Environmental Protection. an agency.
“Private aircraft have rightfully earned their reputation as symbols of excess,” IPS said in its letter. a report.
“While private jet owners contribute significantly to producing carbon emissions, they do so … while providing little compensation to the public.”
Aviation as the public domain
Aside from their disproportionate contribution to global warming pollution, the wealthiest segment of travelers uses far more than their share of the public infrastructure that business travelers pay to maintain.
“The navigable airspace above us is part of the public domain; it’s much like a public highway except that unless you have the funds, you have to pay a lot of money to jam between strangers as you travel,” the report reads.
For example, the FAA handles air safety for all flights in the United States, including approximately 1 in every 6 that are on private jets. But the FAA is funded mostly from fees and taxes paid on commercial flights, including a 7.5% tax on the ticket price and a separate fee of $4.50 per person.
These regular taxes make up nearly 70% of the agency’s funding, according to the IPO. Only 2% of the FAA’s funding comes from private jet passengers, whose contribution comes in the form of jet fuel surcharges.
“Private jet passengers are not, in our analysis, interfering with the system,” Chuck said. CollinsDirector of the IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good. “You support the air travel business – they don’t pay 70% of the cost of the air traffic system,” he said.
Private jet owners also benefit from the use of approx 3000 airports Throughout the United States it does not receive scheduled commercial flights but still receives public funding, largely in the form of taxes and fuel surcharges on those commercial flights.
“In effect, commercial passengers subsidize the carbon and comfort offered by the high-flying program,” the report notes.
Airstrip leveling
As a remedy, Collins suggests taxing private flights as well as selling private jets. If the United States were to tax the sale of private jets — the Prison Service proposes a 10% tax on the purchase of used planes and 5% on new ships — the country would have raised $2.6 billion last year.
IPS also recommends doubling the tax on jet fuel for private travelers and adding a surcharge for very short trips, like the 17-minute flight by Kylie Jenner last summer that generated a viral outbreak. backlash.
“This will be very popular politically,” Collins predicted. “Let’s tax private jet class and invest in things that help others.”
“We tax gasoline, build highways, tax cigarettes and invest in public health. We should tax private jets and build transit,” he added.
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