UK is worst private jet polluter in Europe with flight taking off every six minutes, study finds

Private jet users in the UK emitted more damaging greenhouse gases than in any other European country last year, analysis has found.

Private flights taking off from UK soil rose by 75 per cent last year from the 2021 figure – giving a total of 90,256 flights that emitted half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide, experts have calculated.

Jets used by the super-rich are up to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes per passenger, and 50 times more polluting than trains, according to a study by Transport & Environment.

The new analysis commissioned by Greenpeace found the UK is the top country in Europe for private jet flights, with one taking off every six minutes last year.

Private jet usage and their carbon emissions are climbing across the continent, but the UK has the busiest route, the most polluting route and the most flights overall, the study found.

The government is expected on Thursday to unveil new green energy policies intended to help meet the country’s climate change goals and compete with US and EU incentives on green investment.

Earlier this year, Rishi Sunak defended his use of private jets to travel to northern England and to Scotland after Labour accused him of an "A-list" lifestyle at taxpayers’ expense.

The analysis for Greenpeace found that within Europe, the UK has the most private flights, the highest emissions and the busiest route. Flights between London and Paris were the most popular, totalling 3,357.

Six of Europe’s top 10 routes also included London. The English capital overtook Paris, the busiest city in 2021.

But a journey of less than five miles between Farnborough and Blackbushe in Hampshire is the most polluting route, according to the research, which was conducted by Dutch environmental consultancy CE Delft.

It takes less than 30 minutes to cycle between those two airports.

The report says that across Europe, trips by the rich and famous in their own aircraft soared from 350,000 flights in 2021 to more than 570,000 last year – a rise of 64 per cent – and their carbon dioxide emissions more than doubled over the same period to over 3.3 million tonnes.

The 10 countries with the most private jet flights in Europe were the UK, France, and Germany, followed by Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Almost one in four (39 per cent) of private jet flights were “very short-haul” – less than 310 miles.

“These excessive and disproportionately climate-damaging short-haul flights could have easily been replaced by train or ferry trips,” according to the report authors.

Greenpeace is calling for a ban on private jet travel, which it says is the most polluting mode of transportation on the planet per passenger kilometre.

Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Private jets are staggeringly polluting and generally pointless. Many of these journeys can be covered almost as quickly by train, and some of them by bicycle.

“Millions of people around the world are facing climate chaos, losing livelihoods or worse, while a tiny minority are burning jet fuel like there’s no tomorrow.

“If the government is serious about net zero and a fair transition to low-carbon transport, private jets should be first on the chopping block.”