Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller

In defence of private jets

Climate protestors vandalise a private jet in Germany this year (photo: Alamy)

Barbara Amiel was right that one private jet isn’t enough. One jet is always in the wrong place, or undergoing maintenance, or perhaps these days being attacked by eco-activists. So two is the absolute minimum. 

Needless to say, the very idea of private jets sends environmentalists insane. Just last week, Just Stop Oil types attacked private jets at Ibiza, splashing paint and glueing themselves to the wings.   

The Stay Grounded network, which also campaigns against private jets, boasts on its web site, ‘We’ve come to tell the super-rich the party is over’. This goes to show that much of the eco-extremist anger at private jets has probably more to do with class warfare than the environment. Air travel accounts for an estimated 2 per cent of total global greenhouse emissions. Private jets account for 2 per cent of this 2 per cent, or 0.04 per cent.  

Much of the eco-extremist anger at private jets has probably more to do with class warfare than the environment

Is it only the super-rich, as Stay Grounded say, who are in the PJ set? There are certainly more expenses than you might imagine.

Jonathan Miller
Written by
Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller, who lives near Montpellier, is the author of ‘France, a Nation on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ (Gibson Square). His Twitter handle is: @lefoudubaron

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