Private jets are more popular than ever before. Environmentalists are unhappy with this trend, because private flights cause much more pollution than commercial flights. Consultancy agency CE Delft conducted research on behalf of Greenpeace. In 2022, 12,176 private aircraft took off from Dutch airports. An increasing percentage of these departed from Eindhoven Airport.
The popularity of private jets increased all over Europe during the corona pandemic. In 2020, the number of flights was 119,000. In 2021 that number tripled to 350,000 flights. Last year, that number increased by another 64 per cent.
Skyhigh
The increase in private flights is noticeable in Eindhoven. You can rent a private jet from four different companies located the Airport. One of those companies is Global Aviation. Director Stephan van den Hurk says in an interview with tv-programme EenVandaag: “Strangely enough, the entire aviation industry was down during corona, but our business actually went ‘skyhigh’.” He also sees this increase as a result of the enormous delays during the high season. You don’t have to wait for a private jet, travellers have their own terminal there.
Short flights
Greenpeace would like to see a ban on private flights. According to the organisation Transport & Environment, this is about five to fourteen times more polluting per person than a commercial flight. Most flights are short travels to, for example, London or Paris, places that are easily accessible by train, a means of transport that is fifty times less polluting than a private jet.
Make a statement
Climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion group protested against the use of private jets. Last week they cut a hole in a fence to occupy the private jet area. “Private jets are extremely polluting and we want to make another statement against this way of flying”, they said. Over a hundred activists were arrested. They have all been released.
Eindhoven Airport’s response to the action is that only 2.5% of their flights are minor flights and that there is a cap on their number.
Source: Studio040
Translator: Martijn
