A law to ban private jets? “It’s more about the order of the symbol than anything else”, protests the European lobbyist of the sector

A plane has just landed from Chambéry at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris. The Savoyard city is however only three hours from Paris by TGV. Impossible to know who descends from it because the company is behind a huge closed door and refuses any contact with its customers for questions of confidentiality, it is claimed. Ditto for requests made by email, text message, telephone… No client from this very secret environment wanted to answer our questions.

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“It’s what we call low profile people”, says a pilot who agreed to answer us on condition of anonymity. The people I get to transport are nothing like, say, those American pastors who need Gulfstream G650s [un jet d’affaires biréacteur] to be closer to God.” After 3,000 hours of flight, there are still questions. “The guilt can be there, even if the term is a bit strong, when we do not optimize as much as we could”he admits.

“Transporting a person in an Airbus A320 is something I struggle with.”

A private jet pilot

at franceinfo

It’s very rare, says Isabelle Clerc, head of AéroAffaires, which organizes turnkey business trips. “80 to 90% of my activity are senior executives who want to put either technicians or employees on planes because it’s the only alternative there is, in the four corners of Europe”, she describes. For example, this Toulouse-Gdansk flight in Poland allows a technician to repair an assembly line in a single day, whereas it would have taken three days to get there with regular airliners. “What we told Mr. Bayou is that prohibiting flights is not our mode of operation”, says Charles Aguettant who met the Green MPs. He is vice-president of EBAA France, the European lobbyist which defends the interests of business aviation.

One in ten planes taking off in France is a private jet

Between the ban on hunting on Sundays and luminous advertising in public spaces, the Green MPs have indeed the intention of “bring the rich back to earth” and associate them with “the effort to transition” for more “climate justice”. For this, they will take advantage Thursday, April 6 of the parliamentary niche reserved for their group, a day therefore entirely devoted to the examination of their bills.

It must be said that the symbol is strong: one in ten planes that take off from France is a private jet and in two hours of flight, some of them pollute as much as a Frenchman in a year. On Wednesday in the Netherlands, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol announced that it would ban private jets within two to three years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In France, they are always welcome, especially at Europe’s largest business airport, Le Bourget airport, north of Paris.

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“Stop stigmatizing or caricaturing our industry! protests Charles Aguettant. Our industry is 80% business. Then, he has about ten percent which is made for medical flights. A few State flights remain, then leisure flights. We are talking about something that is more symbolic than anything else.” With such a law, he fears that business will no longer be done in France, but elsewhere in Europe.

“In 2022, the use of private jets has increased by 64% where food aid is exploding.”

Marine Tondelier, national secretary of EELV

at franceinfo

“There are symbolsretorted Thursday April 6 on franceinfo the national secretary of EELVMarine Tondelier. Today, everyone is asked to make an effort. And there is a bubble of people who can go in their private jet, drink champagne and golf on watered grounds when the whole of France cannot water its garden. My goal is social justice. The very rich inherit their wealth. We have to establish a redistribution. The measure is not anti-rich, it is pro climate.