Private jets, there are those who want to abolish them

The fact-checking site Political report card analyzed the issue through official statistics and made one comparison among the habits of a French citizen – a country where, among other things, there is a wide debate on the adoption of containment measures or taxation of these aircraft – and the CO emissions₂ resulting from a private jet.

Considering the cultural proximity between Italy and France, it is a correct comparison: it emerges that in “a year a French citizen issues to move approx 2.6 tons of CO₂ equivalent, the unit of measurement for weighing together the emissions of different greenhouse gases. The use of cars, airplanes and other means of transport is included here“. Second reflex Transport & Environment (T&E), a group of European non-governmental organizations promoting sustainable mobility, in five hours a private jet emits about 10 ten tons of CO₂, the equivalent of those produced by roughly four people in a year to move. This is slightly less than the estimate indicated by Fratoianni. One can argue about the relationship with the number of flight hours of a private jet, as it is difficult to establish an average.

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The use of private jets is not essential

Reflection on CO emissions₂ of private jets depart from abroad. To quote one of the most recent surveys, last July the Washington Post described the data of Celebrity Jets, a Twitter account that tracks celebrity jet movements based on public information. Thus it turns out that Taylor Swift’s plane was the most impactful in 2022with 170 flights since January and a total emissions of over 8,293 tons of CO₂ equivalent. But thinking of other American celebrities, according to the surveys taken from the Twitter account, the planes affiliated to the celebrities emit on average more than 3,376 tons of CO₂, or 480 times more than the annual emissions of an average person.

Also other foreign newspapers such as The Guardian, Time, Bbc, Reuters highlighted the impact of private flights in terms of CO emissions₂ equivalent. But it is wrong to think that this is a problem that excludes Italy: according to some data from Sea Milano Prime, handling operator of Milan Linate and Malpensa, in 2021 the growth of private flight traffic in these two airports marked + 55% compared to to 2020 and + 35% compared to 2019. So much so that even in Italy there is a social account, this time on Instagram, which monitors the impact of the travel of some local celebrities who use private flights: is called Jet of the rich. This page shows some trips of local VIPs and the relative impact in terms of CO₂. Among them there is the influencer Gianluca Vacchiwho used his private jet to inaugurate a point of his kebab chain in Taranto, defined by various sites as an initiative close to environmental sustainability issues and the principles of “zero kilometer”.

The growth of private flights (also in Italy)

However, it can be argued that in Italy the use of private jets is very relative. That’s what he did Luigi Marattin di Italia Viva in a tweet, mentioning that only 133 private jets are fiscally registered in Italy.