By Margaux Farran
LE BOURGET, France, Oct 19 (Sciences Po) - Any future pears may have a slight taste of kerosene. On September 22nd, green activists dressed in white jumpsuits with children’s masks went on Paris-Le-Bourget Airport’s tarmac, planted a few seeds, and raised a banner: “No to private jets – Yes to fruit trees".
Activists protested a law they deem absurd: while France banned short-haul commercial flights that can be replaced with train rides lasting less than two hours in May, private jets remain free to fly for short distances. Even if they are five to 14 times more polluting.
“On the pretext that their time is worth more, or that they can't mingle with others, they have the right to pollute more, unnecessarily,” said Lou Chesné, spokesperson of social justice organization Attac, which co-organised the event with Extinction Rebellion.
Le Bourget – where Charles Lindbergh landed after completing the first solo transatlantic flight in 1927 and which hosts the world’s largest aviation fair, the Paris Air Show - is the busiest business airport in Europe.
With 54,000 private jets skimming its tarmac every year, it - well ahead of Geneva airport and its 35,000 yearly flight movements – Le Bourget serves Paris’ many blue-chip companies in the luxury, aerospace and finance industry and is a hub for billionaires based in or visiting Paris.
It’s also one of the most polluting: the airport was responsible for 146 kilotons of CO2 emission in 2019 - roughly the annual carbon footprint of 32,000 people. With Nice airport, Le Bourget accounts for 60% of CO2 emissions linked to the business aviation sector in France.
Data available online sheds light on the use of private jets in Le Bourget. In a year, 36608 flights were registered on Flight Radar 24, a flight tracking website. The top ten destinations were London, Geneva, Nice, Farnborough, Milan, Bordeaux, Zurich, Toulon, Cannes, and Madrid.
The ten most common routes from Le Bourget airport.
A Sciences po data analysis showed that 43% of the flights were “very short haul”, under 500km, according to the qualification of European Air traffic control organisation Europe. While more than 41% lasted less than an hour.
“Planes are less efficient on short distances, it's when they produce the most emissions,” said Nicolas Raffin, a spokesperson for Transport&Environment, an organization working for sustainable transport.
Among the shortest flight routes, many were reachable by train in under two hours and thirty minutes.
Routes reachable by trains in under two hours and 30 minutes.
In one year, 2597 planes flew the route between Paris and London, where Eurostar runs trains between 10 and 15 times a day, in as little as two hours and ten minutes. A jet saves about an hour, but multiplies CO2 emissions by about 600 times.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous”, says Chesné. “They think that since their time is so precious that they’re allowed to pollute more,” she added.
CO2 emissions (in kilos) of the most common routes from Le Bourget.
More than 612 flight lasted less than 30 minutes. Ninety-one planes flew from Le Bourget to Charles de Gaulle, an airport located ten kilometers away, reachable in a 13-minute drive. Seventy-nine planes flew to Pontoise, another city in the Parisian suburbs located 33 kilometers away.
These flights are likely repositioning flights. "If the customer wants to leave from Charles de Gaulle, but the plane is at Le Bourget, they won’t ask the customer to drive, even for 10 minutes”, said Thomas Gelin, political campaigner at Greenpeace. “It would go against their brand: absolute comfort.”
Experts say that other logistical reasons may also explain these movements. Parking spots in Le Bourget are limited, and expensive, costing up to 5000 euros a day for large aircrafts.
Despite being short, these flights are carbon-intensive, as planes consume the most fuel during landing and take-off. A round trip between Pontoise and Le Bourget emits about 600 kg of CO2. While itself not a huge amount, it corresponds to the CO2 emissions of a 250 000 kilometer journey by train.
Repositioning flights are common on larger distances as well. An aircraft can drop off a client at its destination, before coming back to its original position, with no one inside. This is why 42% of flights on average are empty, according to a study made by Transport & Environment.
“Don't look at it as a mistake, or as poor organization - for a private jet company, it's how it's supposed to be”, said Gelin. “They know it's wasteful, but they don't care, it's not a problem for them,” he added.
Attac's Chesné said that many of the destinations speak volume about the lack of valid business reason for the short-haul flights.
“Their justification is that businessmen use jets to go to work. But when you look closely, you can’t help but notice that a lot of them are going to holiday destinations”, says Chesné.
Nice, Bordeaux, Toulon, Cannes and Ibiza all figure in the top twenty destinations from Le Bourget.
Although it’s impossible to know with certainty if these flights are for leisure or business, seeing Ibiza in the top ten destinations may upset the public opinion, said Transport&Environement's Raffin.
This is why companies are under increased pressure to change their practices. Bernard Arnauld - the world’s richest man, who is also a regular at Le Bourget’s airport - sold his aircraft after a Twitter account "I Fly Bernard" traced his flights and tallied his CO2 emissions.
Other companies are regularly spotted in Le Bourget. In a random week in October, Jewelry maker Cartier’s jets went 11 times through the airport, going back and forth between with Zurich, Teesside, Reykjavik and Geneva. One of them went to Orléans, a city in the South-West of Paris, reachable by train in one hour and 15 minutes.
The flight contradicts the brand’s commitment to sustainability. On its website, Cartier pledges to “help protect biodiversity and healthy ecosystems”, through programs to “safeguard snow leopards”, “empower livestock herders”, and “restore mangroves”.
Cartier did not respond to our request for comments.
“Some companies realize that taking their private jets may affect their image. But for luxury companies, it's harder to convince their marketing departments that it's a bad idea,” said Gelin.
Politicians are also under pressure to modify their habits. Emmanuel Macron was recently criticized for flying back and forth to Lille, to attend a rugby match between France and Uruguay.
“He could have taken the train, it’s literally an hour away”, says Chesné. At this point, it's a provocation”.
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