POLITICAL PRESSURE ON THE BUSINESS AVIATION SECTOR

Recently, France’s aviation sector was in the news when the Government banned shorthaul flights on a very small selection of routes, the reasoning being that there was a fast rail (and less carbon-intensive) alternative that passengers could take. However, as well as clamping down on domestic passenger flights, there’s also pressure in France to ban or at least severely curtail private jet use.

Quoted in Euronews, French Government spokesperson Olivier Véran said:

“We can understand that a Frenchman who is careful in his daily life is shocked by the fact that some of his fellow citizens can take a private jet to make flea jumps.”

At the same time, Green MP Julien Bayou is part of an effort to introduce a bill in the French Parliament to ban private jets, saying that:

“It's the measure that penalises the least number of people for the greatest and most immediate impact in favour of the climate."

Though a total ban seems unlikely, the political headwinds are very much against the sector, and some kind of higher taxation seems likely, including a 70% ‘supertax.’

In Canada, that tax already exists as part of a wider push against luxury items, including private yachts.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, the left-wing party People Before Profit is introducing a private jet ban bill into the Irish Parliament (Dail). While the much larger Sinn Fein party, which currently leads in Irish opinion polls, proposes a €3000 tax per private jet flight. Finally, prior to the last UK General Election, the main opposition Labour Party was exploring plans to ban private jets from UK Airports from 2025, if it were to win.

It didn’t win, and the then leader Jeremy Corbyn has since been replaced with the more Centrist Keir Starmer. However, it would seem possible that the party still explores some kind of private jet tax were it to win the 2024 election.

The political environment, certainly in Europe, is becoming much more hostile to private jets. As French MP Julien Bayou said - it’s a climate change measure that simply doesn’t affect that many people.