According to a recently released report commissioned by Greenpeace, an international non-governmental organization working to protect and conserve the environment, the United Kingdom is Europe’s worst Private Jet polluter.

Dutch environmental consultancy, CE Delft, said the Private flights taking off from UK airports increased by 75% from 2021. The firm said that in 2022 private jets accounted for 90,256 flights, equating to a private plane taking off every six minutes, a figure higher than any other European country.

London to Pairs was the busiest route

Out of the top ten private jet routes from the UK, six involved flights from London, the busiest being London to Paris, accounting for 3,357 flights. This figure is impressive, considering 15 trains a day link London St. Pancras with Paris Gare du Nord. The journey takes less than two and a half hours and takes you from city center to city center. Given the location of London and Paris airports and the amount of traffic you would need to navigate, flying between the two cities uses up about the same time and is far worse for the environment.

Primarily associated with the super-rich, private jets are one of the world’s leading polluters in travel, on average emitting 14 times more carbon dioxide (CO2) per passenger than a commercial airline and 50 times more than a train.

Calling the United Kingdom the private jet capital of Europe, the study found that the UK had the busiest routes, the most polluting routes, and the most significant overall number of flights.

In early 2023 Labor leader Keir Starmer flight shamed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after he used private jets to fly from London to the North of England and Scotland. Labor said that he could have easily made the journey by train and that Sunak was living an “A-list” lifestyle at the expense of British taxpayers. While ordinary UK citizens are grappling with the rising cost of living, Sunak and his wife are estimated to be sitting on a £730 million fortune.

More data regarding these flights

Greenpeace calls the private jet flight pointless and polluting, saying that nearly all the journeys could have been easily done by taking the train. One private jet flight was so short that the trip could have been done by bicycle in half an hour.

Overall the report noted that the use of private jets is on the rise and that 1% of the world’s population is responsible for 50% of all the CO2 emissions caused by aircraft.

Despite the term “flight shaming” dating back to 2017, when prominent people in Sweden said that they would rather travel by train than take a plane, it appears to have fallen on deaf ears as far as private jet users are concerned.

According to the Greenpeace commissioned report, European private jet flights increased from 350,000 in 2021 to 570,000 in 2022. It says that at least 39% of these flights were less than 310 miles and should have been done by train. The UK has the most private jet flights in Europe, followed by France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Netherlands, and Belgium.