As Celebrity Backlash Grows, So Does Overall Private Jet Use
The most prominent and dire conversation happening at the global stage is the climate crisis we are facing, and have been facing for many, many years. While some argue that it’s not at all a concern because politicians of yesteryear swore we’d all be underwater or frozen or on fire by this point in history, the evidence plainly shows the impact mankind has had on the planet and the atmosphere after decades of wasteful expenditure and the generation of carbon emissions. And one of the biggest culprits to this comes from cars. Another big culprit, so claimed by the media: Jets.
This has come to a head with the twitter account CelebJets, run by a sophomore at the University of Central Florida named Jack Sweeney, which tracks the flight time, usage and estimated carbon emissions of private jets flown and owned by the rich and powerful. Elon Musk has an entire account dedicated to him as well. Recently, it was shown that Billionaire Kylie Jenner took just a 17 minute flight in July to go a distance that was little more than an hour by car yet the vehicle she used produced hundreds of times more carbon emissions.
Now, Taylor Swift is in the public crosshairs for the sheer amount of flying her plane does. Out of 200 days in the current year, the plane has been off the ground 170 times. That’s more than most public airliners get nowadays. However, it wasn’t all for her. A spokesperson said that her jet is “regularly loaned out to other people” and that saying she used her private jet with that much frequency was “obviously incorrect”. Loaning or renting a private jet out is much more responsible than letting it sit in a hanger for long periods of time. Even if it’s not flying, there’s maintenance that needs to be done and further expenses to spend.
A Visibility Problem?
Seeing a private jet take off is a sort of spectacle for many because it’s considered a rarity. Despite the fact that private jets have seen more popularity in recent years than ever before. In fact, celebrities may not be the most frequent fliers on the market. But they are the most prominent. Their every move is tracked in media, through news and social media posts, most often of their own volition. Now tracking their plane mileage is just another thing to follow them for. But it’s the intent that makes it an issue, because all of this is being done to shame these individuals for using their flying privilege.
Environmental impact is the major talking point. The claims which go against these celebrities is that they’re doing more harm to the environment flying jets all over the world just to talk about the very same climate crisis they are propelling while average people are being left with the majority of blame without ever setting foot in a private jet or even regular air travel. Just because they drive cars to work and to stores every day, they’re being labeled as the villains of the planet for producing less than 10% of the emissions for the same amount of travel time.
The issue is with the way these numbers are explained, because up front, that does seem like a lot. If a car produces less emissions over the same length of journey, why blame it for the problems caused by the plane? During a two hour drive, a car will end up going about 10% of the distance that a two hour flight can travel, at a maximum. The main issue is with the distance rather than the overall time-to-cost expenditure. Over long flights, planes are more efficient at using fuel, and are growing in efficiency with new engines in development and new fuel solutions being implemented. But those numbers aren’t in public circulation yet. All people know is the old ways of measuring carbon emissions and how it compares to their own daily lives.
The Jet Plane Economy
With more celebrities and a whole new category of celebrities born from the YouTube and Instagram “Influencer” generation, there are more people taking more flights than ever before. Standard and new-tech businesses have also seen a massive rise in the use of private jets for business and for jet-settling to create more content focused around rich and eccentric lifestyles. The industry for private jets as a whole has seen a growth of 30% since the pandemic began, and now that lockdowns are ending across the world, more people are turning to customized private aviation experiences rather than enduring the claustrophobic and cluttered experience of commercial air.
Jet planes aren’t the only tool of travel that celebrities use. Tom Holland made brief headlines with his cross-country flight on a commercial plane, citing that he doesn’t think anyone is above traveling commercial. Whether commercial or not, these long flights are what jets are designed for and where their flourish the most. Short flights may beat the city traffic, but the argument against their environmental damage can’t be understated. Celebrities can only answer for it so much before they are coerced into speaking. And when they speak, they tend to prefer big crowds and platforms which take a long time to get to. Which is why they travel to those events to address world issue at a world stage…in private jets.
The celebrity issue shows a common trend with people imitating what they see done by those who have a more prominent social standing. Celebrities are exactly that: celebrated. It’s possible that the boom of jet plane based travel has come on the back of the exposure to these hip and trendy celebrities using private jets themselves. What used to be considered a stuffy Wall Street business mode of travel has become modernized and idolized along with the people who use them. People may chastise them on one hand, but they will always follow with the other.
