As wealth inequality accelerates, so has demand for private jets. Manufacturing of new luxury jets has risen while the resale market has grown even more robust. There is also growing pressure on local airports to expand the capacity to accommodate the growing number of private jets.
There are an estimated 977 billionaires (and one trillionaire) that call the United States home with a combined wealth of over $9 trillion. Each of these billionaires very likely has a private jet or two — along with many wealthy people with assets over $50 million. We know from our research that the median wealth of a private jet owner is $190 million and that fractional jet users have median wealth of $140 million.
These wealthy private jet moochers are super-polluters, with the highest level of carbon emissions of any humans on the planet. They must change their behavior the most and the fastest if we want any hope of containing the climate crisis. Their selfish behavior undermines the solidarity required to transition our societies away from fossil fuels.
The Private Jet Accountability Project (PJAP) is working to:
- Eliminate federal and state tax breaks for private jet travel;
- Make private jet users pay the real costs of their selfish behavior, including airport fees and real environmental impact of their carbon pollution;
- Stop the taxpayer-subsidized expansion of private jet facilities and local airports.
The private jet lobby is very powerful in the U.S. The National Business Aviation Association, and its state affiliates, represent the interests of private jet owners, operators, and manufacturers. That bloc has won massive tax breaks for jets and blocked popular efforts to require private jets to pay their fair share. They lobbied to allow private jet operators to “opt out” of public air travel registries and maintain secrecy for private jet users.
Across the U.S., local airports — some which service no commercial flights — are pressing to expand private jet hangers, runways, and infrastructure. Hanscom Field outside Boston — the biggest private jet airport in the northeast U.S. — has seen a proposed private jet hanger expansion opposed by a massive grassroots campaign.
Here are some early examples from our research:
- June 30 match, Ivory Coast vs. Norway in Arlington Texas: 61 percent above the average CO2 emissions for similar days during the past 5 years, pollution excess of 6.35 kilotons of emissions, equivalent to approximately 1,344 gas cars driven for a year (per EPA calculator)
- July 1 match, U.S. vs. Bosnia Herzegovina in Santa Clara: 879 private jet operations netted an 83 percent increase in emissions over a 5-year average for South Bay air fields; the 3.03 kt excess carbon emissions is equal to about 36.4 tanker trucks full of gasoline.
- July 5 match, Norway upset Brazil in NY/NJ stadium, where the final will be held: 54 percent above average emissions (1,994 private jet operations) with 6.2 kt excess CO2, more than 31 rail cars worth of coal burned. (Note: A lot of wealthy people are already in NYC — and may have come for things other than the World Cup.)
- The July 6 match, U.S. v. Belgium, in Seattle: 818 private jet operations emitted an excess of 3.5 kt, a 119 percent increase over 5-year averages. The Spain-Portugal match on the same day saw 1,939 private jet operations, emitting 3.68 kt more of carbon pollution than average.
After the initial release, we will work to make the Jet Tracker an accessible interactive tool. Watch taxprivatejets.org for findings and @taxprivatejets on social media for shareable graphics.
Many football fans join watch parties to cheer for their teams. Others scrape together cash to root in person for their teams, cramming into public transport and sharing hotel rooms. Meanwhile, the jet setter class benefits from unfair access to public runways and airways and massive tax breaks.
World Cup fans are experiencing just how spread out and poor quality the U.S. public transit system is. Part of the problem is the super-rich private jet class have “opted out” of ground transportation (and an overburdened commercial aviation sector) with no stake in paying for a better system for all.
Private jet owners create 10 to 20 times more fossil fuel pollution flying to the hottest World Cup in history than commercial aviation passengers. Our data shows the number of private jets landing in Dallas, Atlanta and New Jersey for the World Cup semi-final and final games and calculates the added carbon pollution of these joy rides.
Average fans should not have to subsidize the billionaire high-flyer lifestyle by propping up FIFA and paying for public airways and public runways that the wealthy use. We are calling on FIFA to:
- Ban private jets from the World Cup (see the Petition launched with Stay Grounded at taxprivatejets.org or here).
- Honor its “carbon neutrality by 2040” pledge by cutting unnecessary air traffic.
- Make future World Cups accessible, grounded, democratic and built around fans — not billionaire VIPs.
