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Farnborough Airport, UK’s largest hub for private jets, is set to expand its operations to accommodate a surge in private flight demand. The airport plans to increase its capacity by 40%, accommodating from 50,000 flights/ year to 70,000 flights/ year.
The plan comes amid a notable uptick in the private flight demands in the UK. After the pandemic, the demand for private flights has skyrocketed, marking a significant rise of 470% from 2020 to 2023.
Amid this, the plans to expand the airport seem viable to maintain traffic and economic reforms, but environment advocates are not happy with the decision. The safe landing organisation, a community advocating for a sustainable and fair future of aviation, conducted protests outside the airport.
The movement garnered international attention when environmental activist Greta Thunberg joined the cause. This is not the case with just one airport, but many airports around the UK are expanding amid high demands and economic growth opportunities, but this poses significant threat to the environment. The gravity of the situation prompted Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith to resign over the airport's expansion, underscoring the significance of the issue.
So, the article has been penned down to shed light on the environmental and social implications of the expansion of airports in the UK, particularly the expansion of Farnborough airport and the broader trend of airport expansions across the country.
The UK has the most private jets in Europe and is the worst private jet polluter. Research by Green Pace shows UK has the most private jet flights in Europe, with one departing every six minutes. During COVID, one in four flights in the UK was private jet, compared to one in ten today.
This highlights the rising demand for private jets in UK. In 2023, private jets in UK achieved record-high sales.
However, the environmental impact of private jets is disproportionate. While flying private accounts for mere 4% of the global aviation market, these vessels account for more than ten times greenhouse gas emissions per passenger. This means that passengers flying in private jets produce ten times more greenhouse gas. To add on that, these passengers, which are causing such a great strain on the environment are paying the least amount of tax for the amount of pollution they are causing.
The report of Climate Charity possible compares taxes on private flights to their greenhouse gas emissions, revealing that private jet passengers pay the lowest tax rate per tonne of emissions compared to commercial flights. Even though Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates are higher for commercial flights, they still don’t match the high emission levels produced by private jets.
The report also put these findings into numbers to highlight the disparity in numbers. The report takes an example of London to New York flight, where an economy class passengers pay £96 per tonne of emissions, business class passengers pay £72, and first class passengers pay £52. In contrast, private jet passengers pay significantly less: £13 per tonne for a medium-sized jet and £24 for a large jet.
This disparity is due to an unequal tax structure, where non-commercial vehicles below 5.7-tonne weight are exempted from the tax altogether.
This means that the wealthiest one percent causes ten times more emissions than commercial flights and fifty times more pollution than trains, but often doesn't pay taxes for the environmental damage they cause, leaving others to suffer and foot the bill for their impact.
One private jet flight from London to New York produces emissions equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 18 UK citizens, and just one hour of private flying can offset the carbon reduction achieved by driving an electric vehicle for an entire year. These eye-opening figures highlight the disproportionate environmental impact on the private sector.
In the past two centuries, humans have added more than 50% of CO2 to the environment, which is causing temperature rise and climate change globally.
Despite these pressing concerns, proposals to expand airports like Farnborough in the UK are adding to the worries of environmental activists worldwide. And Farnborough airport is not the only one airport expanding in UK; other airports in the UK are also expanding, exacerbating the environmental challenges we face.
In recent years, the UK has planned expansions for several of its airports, such as extending Southampton airport's runway by 164 meters and increasing Stansted Airport's capacity to 43 million passengers per year.
Amid the rising environmental concerns, UK Government believes that it can balance airport expansion and global carbon neutrality goals by building sustainable airports and argues that this will accelerate business and tourism.
In 2018, the climate advisory of UK government capped aviation expansion at 25% from their current capacity to meet the net zero emission goal by 2050. Despite the warning, current aviation expansion exceeds three times that limit, as depicted in the image.
In 2023, Climate Change Committee spelled out clearly that UK has no capacity for airport expansion until government finds a proper way to manage it. Yet the expansion projects with ‘sustainable’ labels are underway. While some companies are also promoting the concept of ‘Guilt-free Flying’ through carbon-neutral flights and offsetting carbon emissions through various means, the research indicates that achieving true guilt-free flying is still far from reality. Currently, there is no clear alternative to the conventional jet fuel. While hydrogen fuel is a potential option, it is decades away from commercial implementation.
Flying privately may be affordable for individuals, but it comes at a high cost to the environment. Currently, there's no widespread alternative to traditional commercial fuels, making the development of environmentally friendly aviation fuels and travel methods for the wealthy a significant challenge. While expanding airports to accommodate private jets may seem like a good investment now, it is definitely not a sustainable choice for the future.
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