Private jet flights in Europe reach record high in 2022

Source: Schengen Visa Info

A recent report from Greenspace on carbon dioxide emissions from private aviation in Europe has shown that private jet flights reached an all-time high in 2022, and emissions more than doubled compared to 2021.

According to Greenspace, private jet usage on the European continent increased by 64% last year compared to 2021, totaling a record of 572,806 flights and emitting around 3,385,538 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, as SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

“The number of flights in the dataset in 2022 is 572,806 (over 1.5 times the number of flights in 2021), emitting about 3,385,538 tonnes of CO2 emissions (more than doubled compared to 2021). This could be explained by private aviation becoming more popular after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, there were more first-time private flyers,” reads the statement from Greenspace.

Greenspace’s data showed that the busiest private jet routes in 2022 were between London, Paris, Nice, and Geneva. The Paris-London route had the highest number of private jet flights at 3,357 flights, emitting 9,629 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Despite having the largest number of flights, another city pair registered the highest amount of emissions. The Nice-London route recorded a total of 15,435 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from 2,986 flights, significantly fewer flights compared to the Paris-London route, which means that there were more heavy jets used.

The report also indicated that the United Kingdom, France, and Germany were the top three countries with the highest number of private jet flights in 2022, and it makes sense since these three European countries are important business hubs. In 2022, the United Kingdom recorded 90,256 private jet flights, emitting 501,077 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, France recorded 84,885 flights (383,061 CO2 emissions), and Germany recorded 58,424 flights (208,646 CO2 emissions).

The top ten list of countries with the highest number of private jet flights in 2022 and the highest number of emissions also include Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

It should be noted that the Parliament of the EU previously voted to reduce emissions of the member countries by 40% until 2030, taking into account the figures for 2022 and previous years. Voting for the revision of the Effort Sharing Regulation, rapporteur Jessica Polfjärd stated that with this law, the EU is taking a significant step forward in delivering on the bloc’s climate goals.