The French Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, is considering limiting private jet flights and defends that the measure be applied at a European level so that it has a greater impact in terms of the environment and energy savings.
I think we need to act and regulate private jet flights. They are becoming the symbol of a two-speed effort,” Beaune said in a statement published Sunday in Le Parisien newspaper.
The minister explained that he intends to raise this issue after the summer holidays, when the government of Emmanuel Macron will debate the so-called “sobriety plan”, which aims to implement the energy savings required by the European Union to deal with the crisis caused . for the war in Ukraine.
Clément Beaune also wants to bring the issue up for debate with the other transport ministers of the European Union, in October, arguing that “the most effective thing is to act at a European level to have the same rules and more impact”.
According to the NGO Transport & Environnement, quoted by the EFE agency, a tenth of all flights in France are in private jets and in recent weeks, media reports critically monitoring exclusive jet travel by millionaires and celebrities have gained a lot of attention. According to ‘Le Parisien’, the French minister is considering different measures to discourage the use of this type of flight, from regulations that impose restrictions to taxes with a dissuasive effect.
Scenarios include forcing companies to make their private air travel public, or a device to frame their use and even prevent it when there is an alternative with commercial flights or train travel. This would be a way of expanding the existing mechanism that prevents airlines from operating domestic routes in France when there is a rail alternative of less than two and a half hours, except for interconnecting flights. Another idea would be to integrate private aviation into the quota system of the future tax on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that is being designed in the EU.
Beaune justifies this reflection because “without being demagogic […] there is a certain type of behavior that is no longer accepted.” Behind his plans is also the desire not to give the impression that there are different standards when it comes to requiring a tightening of the belt in the face of climate and energy emergencies.
And that implies that the Government sets an example and pays special attention to controversies such as those that have arisen recently, one of them with former Prime Minister Jean Castex who in April used an official jet plane to make a round trip from Paris to Perpignan to vote in his constituency in the presidential elections.
Source: Observadora
