Celebrities are regularly getting criticized for racking up CO2 emissions by using their jets as casually as most people use their cars — but it’s not just famous fliers opting to go private.
Last month, social-media users called out Taylor Swift for her frequent private jet trips (even if some of the flights may not be what they seemed). Stars like Kim Kardashian and Kyle Jenner have also been roasted for years over their private jet usage.
But according to travel industry data, private jet bookings are up — meaning even people who aren’t necessarily own-your-own-private-jet rich are also avoiding commercial flights.
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Surveys conducted by First in Service, a New York-based travel agency, found a 12% increase in private jet bookings in 2023 compared to the year prior, according to Travel Weekly. The surveys also found business class bookings had risen 18% over the same time period.
Fernando Gonzalez, CEO of First in Service, told the outlet the data showed travelers want “personalized, comfortable and exclusive experiences.” Travel advisors with First in Service said the private-jet travelers were typically people with a high net worth and a busy schedule.
Private jet travel is more popular than ever, accounting for one in every six flights managed by air-traffic controllers in the US, Business Insider previously reported. And despite the fact that most Americans will never fly private, they are actually subsidizing private jet travel in the form of commercial flight taxes and FAA funding that goes toward small airports.
“It’s not luxury that has no impact on the rest of us — it has a huge impact,” Chuck Collins, the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, told BI’s Eliza Relman of private-jet travel.
Still, despite all the attention and outrage directed at popular female celebrities and their jets, they are not the majority of private jet travelers.
In fact, the average private jet owner is a 50-year-old man who works in finance or real estate and has a net worth of over $190 million.
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