Private jets polluted more than all flights from Heathrow combined, study finds
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The study spotlights the outsize impact of the United States on emissions. Globally, private jets emitted up to 19.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023: Aircraft departing from the United States accounted for 65 percent of global private jet flights, and 55 percent of those gas emissions.
That year, private jets polluted more than the total of all commercial flights departing from London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest hub.
Researchers identified 22,749 private jets by unique tail number that operated over 3.57 million flights.
The analysis is the first effort to combine flight trajectory information with publicly available emissions models to allocate private jet activity to specific airports.
The study also modeled air pollution, meaning it considered not only greenhouse gases, but also nitrogen oxide pollution and fine particulate matter - both associated with significant human health risks. Researchers found that 18 of the 20 most polluting airports for private jet use are in the United States. And the majority of these flights are short-haul trips, lasting under two hours.
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'If you look at individual airports that are polluted from private jets, Van Nuys Airport [in Los Angeles] popped out,' Rutherford said. 'This is getting a lot of visibility because it's where the celebrities and influencers are all parking their planes.'
Short-haul flights, defined as covering distances less than around 930 miles, account for roughly a third of aviation's annual carbon output. Airplanes burn a significant amount of fuel when taking off and climbing to altitude, making these trips less efficient than longer ones.
France imposed a ban on short-haul domestic flights in 2023, but because it was limited to trips within its borders, analysts described the policy's impact as modest.
Private jets generate between five and 14 times more greenhouse emissions per passenger than commercial planes, according to the European clean transportation nonprofit group Transport & Environment, and 50 times more emissions than trains traveling that same distance.
While private jets often show up in large numbers in big events, from the World Economic Forum at the Swiss resort of Davos to the Super Bowl, the United States still ranks higher than other wealthy countries. The new data shows 687 private jet flights per 10,000 people in the United States, compared to just 117 in the United Kingdom and 107 in France. Florida and Texas alone generated 543,815 flights - more than the entire European Union.
'With smaller, private aircrafts, you don't have as many passengers to distribute the emissions across, so you lose some economies of scale,' said Colin Murphy, associate director of the Energy Futures Research Program at the UC-Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, who was not involved in the study.
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'We have a lot of millionaires and billionaires,' Rutherford said. 'We're a highly unequal society, and so that generates a lot of traffic.'
This week dozens of private jets are expected to arrive in Venice for Jeff Bezos's wedding. (Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.)
Policy efforts to cut down on emissions from private aviation have largely fallen short. Legislation introduced in 2023 would have raised the federal fuel tax on private planes nearly ninefold, from $0.22 to $1.95 per gallon, but the bill never came to a vote.
At the same time, a Federal Aviation Administration program implemented last year allows some owners to remove their flight data from public distribution, making it more difficult to track private aircraft.
'The very important insight is that the global growth in emissions is coming from the top, from more people entering the very affluent classes that can afford private aviation,' said Stefan Gössling, professor of Tourism Research at Linnaeus University and Human Ecology at Lund University, who was not involved in the study. 'That is a trend that is quite powerful and ongoing and will mean that we will not be able to meet our climate goals simply because there's so much growth in the system that we cannot compensate.'
Still, researchers say that the data offers a stark picture of an elite mode of travel with an outsize climate footprint - one that has increased its emissions by 25 percent over the past decade.
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'Private jets are like the canary in the coal mine here for a hyper unequal warming world,' Rutherford said.
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Boston Globe
7 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Private jets polluted more than all flights from Heathrow combined, study finds
Advertisement The study spotlights the outsize impact of the United States on emissions. Globally, private jets emitted up to 19.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023: Aircraft departing from the United States accounted for 65 percent of global private jet flights, and 55 percent of those gas emissions. That year, private jets polluted more than the total of all commercial flights departing from London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest hub. Researchers identified 22,749 private jets by unique tail number that operated over 3.57 million flights. The analysis is the first effort to combine flight trajectory information with publicly available emissions models to allocate private jet activity to specific airports. The study also modeled air pollution, meaning it considered not only greenhouse gases, but also nitrogen oxide pollution and fine particulate matter - both associated with significant human health risks. Researchers found that 18 of the 20 most polluting airports for private jet use are in the United States. And the majority of these flights are short-haul trips, lasting under two hours. Advertisement 'If you look at individual airports that are polluted from private jets, Van Nuys Airport [in Los Angeles] popped out,' Rutherford said. 'This is getting a lot of visibility because it's where the celebrities and influencers are all parking their planes.' Short-haul flights, defined as covering distances less than around 930 miles, account for roughly a third of aviation's annual carbon output. Airplanes burn a significant amount of fuel when taking off and climbing to altitude, making these trips less efficient than longer ones. France imposed a ban on short-haul domestic flights in 2023, but because it was limited to trips within its borders, analysts described the policy's impact as modest. Private jets generate between five and 14 times more greenhouse emissions per passenger than commercial planes, according to the European clean transportation nonprofit group Transport & Environment, and 50 times more emissions than trains traveling that same distance. While private jets often show up in large numbers in big events, from the World Economic Forum at the Swiss resort of Davos to the Super Bowl, the United States still ranks higher than other wealthy countries. The new data shows 687 private jet flights per 10,000 people in the United States, compared to just 117 in the United Kingdom and 107 in France. Florida and Texas alone generated 543,815 flights - more than the entire European Union. 'With smaller, private aircrafts, you don't have as many passengers to distribute the emissions across, so you lose some economies of scale,' said Colin Murphy, associate director of the Energy Futures Research Program at the UC-Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, who was not involved in the study. Advertisement 'We have a lot of millionaires and billionaires,' Rutherford said. 'We're a highly unequal society, and so that generates a lot of traffic.' This week dozens of private jets are expected to arrive in Venice for Jeff Bezos's wedding. (Bezos is the owner of The Washington Post.) Policy efforts to cut down on emissions from private aviation have largely fallen short. Legislation introduced in 2023 would have raised the federal fuel tax on private planes nearly ninefold, from $0.22 to $1.95 per gallon, but the bill never came to a vote. At the same time, a Federal Aviation Administration program implemented last year allows some owners to remove their flight data from public distribution, making it more difficult to track private aircraft. 'The very important insight is that the global growth in emissions is coming from the top, from more people entering the very affluent classes that can afford private aviation,' said Stefan Gössling, professor of Tourism Research at Linnaeus University and Human Ecology at Lund University, who was not involved in the study. 'That is a trend that is quite powerful and ongoing and will mean that we will not be able to meet our climate goals simply because there's so much growth in the system that we cannot compensate.' Still, researchers say that the data offers a stark picture of an elite mode of travel with an outsize climate footprint - one that has increased its emissions by 25 percent over the past decade. Advertisement 'Private jets are like the canary in the coal mine here for a hyper unequal warming world,' Rutherford said.
Business Insider
9 hours ago
- Business Insider
I booked private cabins on overnight trains in Europe and the US. The more expensive ride was a better deal.
I booked a 30-hour overnight train ride in an Amtrak roomette in 2021. Two years later, I booked a private cabin on a European sleeper train for an 11-hour ride. Despite similar amenities, the experiences were notably different. And one had better value. I travel by night in tiny, moving hotel rooms, so I can fall asleep in one city and wake up in another. I squeeze into cabins smaller than a king-sized bed and look out the window at passing landscapes while I brush my teeth. With the rumble of the rails beneath me, I've found that the most exciting way to travel long distances is by overnight train. I've taken seven sleeper trains in the US and Europe, sometimes cheaply with shared accommodations and, in other cases, more expensive, private cabins. The most comparable rides were the Amtrak roomette and a private cabin on OBB Austrian Federal Railway's Nightjet train. Both rides offered an enclosed space with beds, in-room sinks, and wash basins, but the experiences were completely different in many ways. Read on to find out which is worth the price — and why. My overnight train rides began in October 2021 with a 30-hour trip from NYC to Miami in an Amtrak roomette. For $500, I traveled 1,094 miles in an Amtrak roomette. The roomette is the train's second-tier of accommodation — one step above coach seating and one step below an Amtrak bedroom, which is twice the size for roughly double the price, in my experience. Two years later, I took an 11-hour sleeper train from Venice, Italy, to Vienna. In November 2023, I booked a private cabin on a Nightjet train traveling through Europe for the first time. For $200, the train took me 269 miles from Italy to Austria. The private cabin is the train's top-tier accommodation — two steps above a reclining seat and one step above a shared cabin with strangers — both of which I'd experienced before. Although the ride was $300 cheaper than my Amtrak one, it's worth noting that my US ride took me much farther than the European one. The Amtrak roomette was an enclosed space designed for both night and day travel. The roughly 20-square-foot room had two seats situated across from each other and a pullout table with foldout leaves to save space. The cabin also had two wide windows, which brought in plenty of natural light throughout the day. It was a pretty sweet workspace. I spent my time editing photos on my laptop and looking out the window at the passing scenery. At night, stewards came by to transform my room for sleep. The two chairs pull out to make a bottom bunk, and a top bunk pulls down from the ceiling. Meanwhile, the European cabin seemed to only be designed for night travel. Since I was only on the train from about 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., it made sense to me that my Nightjet cabin didn't have all the fix-ins of the roomette. The 30-square-foot enclosed space housed three beds — one on the bottom and two up top. It lacked a daytime setup of seats and a table, and the window was quite small. However, the room had more space to move around than the roomette, which I appreciated. The European cabin also had an additional perk the roomette lacked — welcome gifts. Once in my room, I was surprised to find a goody bag filled with complimentary sleep essentials since I hadn't experienced this perk on my Amtrak ride. Inside were wafer treats, slippers, earplugs, a sleep mask, a washcloth, and a pen. Both rooms had a vanity and sink. The roomette's felt squished into a tight space. On one side of the roomette, there was a mirror with a small pull-out sink below. There was no toilet in the room, so I used a shared bathroom at the end of the train car. I appreciated being able to brush my teeth and wash my face from the comfort of my cabin, but I craved a larger sink. Meanwhile, the European cabin had a spacious wash-up area. In the Nightjet cabin, the sink and vanity were behind two doors. Inside, bright lights that made it easier to see my face in the mirror and storage compartments for my toiletries. The added perk helped me keep my things organized rather than making a mess of my bag. Like the roomette, this cabin didn't have a toilet, and I used a shared bathroom in the sleeping car. The roomette beds were stiff, but the blankets were soft. No train bunk measures up to a real bed. But while a little stiff, I found the Amtrak bunk comfortable enough to rest in. The blankets were thin but soft to the touch. The European bunk was slightly more comfortable. With a thick, smooth comforter and a bed with a little give to it, the Nightjet bunk was a bit more comfortable than the one in the roomette, and I slept slightly better. In the morning, I got a balanced breakfast on the Amtrak train. My ticket included breakfast on both trains. Due to the length of the ride, the Amtrak train also served complimentary lunch and dinner. In the US, I had a big breakfast that prepared me for the day, including an egg sandwich, yogurt, oatmeal, a muffin, and a beverage. My breakfast on the European train was less fulfilling. Breakfast was complimentary on the Nightjet train, too. But it was smaller. I got yogurt, a beverage, and two hard rolls accompanied by butter, Nutella, and jam. I appreciated the fuel up, but it didn't give me the energy I needed for the day. I ended up getting a second breakfast at the McDonald's in the train station once I arrived. While the European ride was cheaper, I thought the US ride had better value. I ultimately found that the US trip was a better deal than the European one. The Amtrak traveled much farther, included more meals, and had a room designed for day and night travel. At the same time, I still think the cabin in Europe was worth the price. And I'll miss the spacious room, vanity, bunk, and welcome gifts Nightjet provided on my next Amtrak ride.
CNN
10 hours ago
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Venice expects to rake in over $1.1 billion from Bezos-Sanchez wedding
Venice, Italy, can expect to reap a $1.1 billion reward from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's controversial, star-studded wedding, according to Italy's Tourism Ministry. The ministry said Friday that the event, which has been met with fierce pushback from some Venetians, could provide a boost of almost 68% of the city's annual tourism turnover. The three-day wedding, reportedly costing up to $55 million, has kept Venice hotels and other businesses busy. Despite the economic boost, protesters have rallied against the nuptials of Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the third richest person in the world, and Lauren Sanchez, a former TV reporter, with one banner reading 'No space for Bezos,' and a tarp from Greenpeace that read: 'If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.' 'We need to abandon the controversy and focus on opportunities,' said Daniela Santanchè, the minister of tourism in Italy, in a news release. 'This is not just a private event, but a concrete driving force for the entire sector. Venice has all it takes to transform it into an opportunity for relaunch and promotion.' The 200 wedding guests include A-listers Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Brady and Kim and Khloe Kardashian. The more than $1 billion economic boost is about a quarter of what pop singers Taylor Swift and Beyoncé managed in the United States over their months-long tours. In 2023, Michael Grahn, then-chief economist of Danske Bank, cited Beyonce's 'Renaissance' tour as a contributor to inflated hotel and restaurant prices in Stockholm. The tour added more than $4.5 billion to the US economy, according to a 2023 analysis of concertgoers' spending by research firm QuestionPro. Taylor Swift's 'Eras' tour, which ran for nearly two years and hosted 152 concerts in 51 cities, wrapped up last December as the highest-grossing tour of all time. The tour's economic impact totaled roughly $5 billion in the United States, according to an estimate by QuestionPro. But that total only took into account direct spending, according to the US Travel Association, which estimates Swift's total impact likely exceeded $10 billion when factoring in indirect spending and when non-ticket holders make purchases outside of venues. The $1.1 billion coming from the Bezos-Sanchez wedding is more than the $1 billion Las Vegas generated from the 2024 Super Bowl. Italy has hosted other high-profile weddings, including in 2014 with Kim Kardashian-Kanye West in Florence and Amal Alamuddin-George Clooney in Venice.
