“800 private jets have gone to Egypt and they tell you to cycle to work because we are destroying the world.” A simple Instagram image highlights around 800 private jets heading to Egypt, the setting chosen to host COP27, a climate conference organized by the United Nations, which took place between November 6 and 18. However, it is a false post at the time it was made.

In addition to such an image, which is, in fact, a print Screen of a map where dozens and dozens of moving aircraft are seen (possibly the image was captured on a site like Flight Radar 24, which tracks the flights of these aircraft, from origin to destination), no further information is shared in this post . The date the image was captured is unknown, as are the airports of origin and destination (there are flights that seem to be heading to Egypt, others that seem to have left the country, but many do not even cross). the territory of the country (the information is absolutely vague) Information is also not shared about the moment in which this geolocation of private jets was taking place.

So, to understand the real number of private jets, it is best to turn to the platforms that do this tracking. For example, FlightRadar24 guarantees that, after an initial inquiry by the BBC which also verified these allegations, 36 private jets landed in Sharm el-Sheikh between November 4 and 6. Subsequently, 64 landed in Cairo, and 24 of these planes had departed from that city. But this BBC report was made on November 9, when there were still nine more days of meetings and interventions by world leaders in the framework of the climate summit.

Even so, it is important to note that this platform identifies “real-time information from hundreds of aircraft around the world” but, on the other hand, it does not guarantee to show all private jets. It is also worth mentioning an article from November 11 —seven days before the end of the event in Egypt— in the Daily Mail, which quoted AFP, where the Egyptian authorities claimed that more than 400 private jets had landed in that country.

In other words, although it is not possible to determine the exact number of private jets that landed at COP27, it can be said that the publication in question is, to say the least, misleading. Because? Because it was shared on November 13, just four days after the weather phenomenon began on the African continent. Therefore, according to the known figures cited by different media, it is not possible to affirm that 800 private jets had landed in Egypt.

The same allegation about the number of private jets had already been made last year, during COP26, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland. The shared images, this time apparently of real planes making real trips, were not confirmed as true. This was the guarantee given by the Reuters agency.

conclusion

On the date (November 13) that a publication allegedly showed 800 private jets landing at COP27 in Egypt, it was not possible to ensure that so many air transports of that level had arrived in that African country for a new world climate summit. The closest number was around 400, that is, half the universe claimed by the author of the publication.

Thus, according to the Observer classification system, this content is:

WRONG

In the Facebook rating system this content is:

FAKE: Main content claims are factually inaccurate. This option generally corresponds to “fake” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking sites.

NOTE: This content was curated by The Observer as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.