Private jet flights have soared in recent years, with resulting climate-warming emissions up 50%, the most comprehensive global analysis to date has revealed.
The assessment tracked more than 25,000 private planes and almost 19m flights between 2019 and 2023. It found that almost half of the planes traveled less than 500 km and 900,000 “similar taxis” were used for trips of less than 50 km. Many flights were for holidays, arriving in sunny places in summer. The FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 attracted more than 1,800 private flights.
Private flights, used by only 0.003% of the world’s population, are the most polluting form of transportation. The researchers found that passengers on larger private planes caused more co2 emissions in one hour than the average person does in a year.
The United States dominated private jet travel, accounting for 69% of flights, and Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia were in the top 10. A private jet takes off every six minutes in the UK. Total emissions from private jet flights in 2023 were more than 15 million tonnes, more than 60 million Tanzanians emitted.
Industry expectations are that another 8,500 business jets will enter service by 2033, far outpacing efficiency gains and indicating that private flying emissions will rise further. The researchers said their work highlighted the vast global inequality in emissions between richer and poorer people, and that addressing the emissions of wealthy minorities was critical to ending global warming.
Professor Stefan Gössling from Linnaeus University in Sweden, who led the research, said: “The rich are a very small part of the population, but they are increasing their emissions very quickly and by large levels of magnitude.” He added: “The global emissions growth we are experiencing right now is coming from the top.”
The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, took data from the ADS-B Exchange platform, which records signals sent once a minute by transponders on each plane, recording its position and altitude. This huge data set, 1.8 terabytes, was leaked for all 72 aircraft models marketed by their manufacturers as “Business Jets.” The emissions figures are probably an underestimate, as smaller aircraft and emissions from taxiing on the ground were not included.
The analysis found that the number of private aircraft increased by 28% and the distance flown increased by 53% between 2019 and 2023. Less than a third of flights were more than 1000 km and almost 900,000 flights were less than 50 km.
“We know that some people use them as taxis, really,” Gössling said. “If it’s only 50km, you could definitely do it by car.” Outside of the United States and Europe, Brazil, the Middle East and the Caribbean are private hotspots.
Much of the use is for leisure, the researchers found. For example, private jet use to Ibiza in Spain and Nice in France peaked in the summer and was concentrated on weekends. In the United States, Taylor Swift, Drake, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey are among those who have been criticized for their use of heavy private jets.
The researchers also looked at some business events in 2023, with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland resulting in 660 private jet flights and the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai resulting in 291 flights.
Gössling said the driving factors behind the recent large increase in private jet use have not been analyzed, but could include a growing reluctance to share cabins on commercial flights that began during the Covid pandemic. Industry documents describe private jet users as “ultra-high net worth,” comprising around 250,000 people, with an average wealth of $123 million. US private jet users are increasingly using “ICAO privacy addresses,” which mask the identity of the plane and could make tracking much more difficult in the future.
According to Gössling passengers, they must pay for the climate damage resulting from each ton of CO2 issued, estimated at approximately €200: “Very basically, it would seem fair for people to pay for the damage they cause by their behavior.”
A second step would be to increase landing fees for private planes, which are currently very low, he added. A landing fee of €5,000 could be an effective deterrent, roughly doubling the cost of ordinary private flights.
Alethea Warrington, head of aviation at climate charity Possible, said: “Private jets, used by a small group of ultra-rich people, are a completely unjustifiable and gratuitous waste of our meager remaining emissions budget to prevent climate breakdown and Their emissions are rising, even as the impacts of the climate crisis intensify.”
“It’s time for governments to act,” he said. “We need… a super tax, leading quickly to an outright ban on private jets.”
The United States Private Aviation Association did not respond to a request for comment.
