A Make Them Pay! protest at Farnborough against private jets in May 2024. Image: . The UK has more international private jet flights to European holiday hotspots than any other country, according to a new study.
Environmental charity Greenpeace, which commissioned the research, urged the British Government to ban the aircraft as their carbon emissions are contributing to a “climate crisis” featuring “deadly floods and heatwaves”. The report looked at private jet flights to 45 European airports near popular destinations last year. Some 12,702 out of the total of 117,965 were from the UK.
This 11 per cent share was larger than any other country. France was in second place, followed by Italy. The analysis, conducted by Germany-based T3 Transportation Think Tank, found a spike in private aircraft traffic during the summer, indicating the jets are often being used for holidays rather than business.
The most common destination included in the analysis for private jet flights from the UK last year was Nice in the south of France (2,642 flights). That was followed by Geneva, Switzerland (1,953 flights); Palma de Mallorca, Spain (1,140 flights); and Malaga, Spain (1,015 flights). Hiring a private jet generally costs several times the price of a seat on a regular commercial aircraft.
Benefits generally include quicker security and border checks, enhanced onboard service and more control over take off and landing times. The thousands of flights originating in the UK last year ca.