Transport Minister Says Macron Gave Green Light on Climate Change Proposals to Curb Private Aviation

Hold your nose... another poltician knows what's good for the rest of us, though his errant assumptions seem pretty questionable. Clement Beaune, French transport minister, has hinted at upcoming regulations around private jet use in the country as a way to dissuade the emissions amid a greater push for green transportation. 

Beaune mentioned that he had already been given the go-ahead by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and President Emmanuel Macron to make real, actionable proposals to curb private aviation in the country. Private jets will be on the agenda at an upcoming meeting of European ministers next October. 

France doesn’t appear to have experienced quite the same boom in private air travel during the pandemic as the rest of the world, as Bloomberg notes that 2021 saw the Le Bourget airport fall short of 2019 charter flights. In 2019, the most privately-chartered airport hub saw almost 55,000 flights according to operator Aeroports de Paris. In 2021, that figure fell just a tad short of 52,000. The transport landscape in France varies considerably from its American counterpart, given the level of rail coverage throughout Europe. An Aeroports spokesman said that less than 10% of those are pleasure flights, with more than 85% chartered for business, medical, or government purposes. 

Aviation has been a large target in the green industry’s crosshairs for years, given the projected emissions over the coming years, but private jets in particular present a high profile way to be seen cracking down on profligate consumption. (It certainly doesn’t help that so many of sustainability’s loudest cheerleaders often appear to have the highest rate of jet use, not the best way to convince the public.) Given the rarity of private aviation to begin with, few defenders seem interested in guarding the industry from even more fees, taxes, and oversight, and the country’s fairly fleshed-out rail network was held up by Beaune as a suitable alternative to air travel. 

“I believe that when there’s a train alternative, when there’s a commercial flight - which emits four times less carbon per passenger than private jets, that should be the preferred option,” he told reporters. The extent of the changes - at least for now - don’t seem to have too many teeth. Minister Beaune said that measures targeting private jet use would probably be fairly symbolic, hopefully for French aviators designed to look like they’re doing something more than actually dissuading further flight activity.

FMI: http://gouvernement.fr/en