It is just under 50 kilometres as the crow flies from Munich's major airport to the small Oberpfaffenhofen airfield. There is an S-Bahn connection and a motorway connection. And yet, in fact, this mini-route was covered more than 100 times by plane last year. Not with a large Airbus, but with private planes with more than three seats. In addition, there were 20 flights from Oberpfaffenhofen to Augsburg over a similar distance. Between Friedrichshafen and the nearby Swiss Altenrhein, the jets flew 39 times.

Dyrk Scherff

Editor in the "Value" section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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Such evaluations, in this case by the non-governmental organisation CE Delft, are increasingly attracting public attention in the climate debate. After all, such flights are not uncommon. There are also regular ultra-short flights abroad. Short trips of less than 500 kilometres, which account for 40 percent of all private flights in Europe, are also much more common. This refers to flights in small business planes, in which sometimes not even ten passengers sit. This can be the manager on a business trip, the company traffic of large companies or simply a wealthy person who wants to indulge in the luxury of independent travel. Depending on the calculation, the CO2 emissions per passenger in such flights are up to 14 times higher than in a normal aircraft and 50 times higher than in a train.

Amsterdam bans private planes

Now the debate is also becoming fiercer at EU level. A few days ago, Austria, France and the Netherlands sent a letter to the European Commission calling for strict EU climate protection rules for flights with private jets. Business trips and private luxury travel with private jets have an excessive carbon footprint per capita and are therefore rightly criticized. "Against this background, recent calls for steps such as a ban on private jet travel are understandable and need to be addressed," the letter reads. "Private jet flights are a hobby of the super-rich," said Austria's Green Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler.

Your country has put the issue on the agenda of the EU transport ministers' meeting on Thursday. Their statements show that, in addition to the environmental impact, social aspects are also repeatedly included in the dispute. After all, only rich people can afford such private flights. For this reason, left-wing politicians such as Left Party chairman Martin Schirdewan have been calling for restrictions for some time. A few weeks ago, climate activists of the "last generation" sprayed private planes with orange paint at Berlin Airport after they had entered the apron through a self-cut hole in the airport fence. The group also wrote of the "luxury of the super-rich".

Politics is not always a role model either. Last year, Friedrich Merz travelled to Sylt in a private jet for Christian Lindner's wedding. And EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, together with EU Council President Charles Michel, flew to the UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt by business jet. There is speculation about the cost of 100,000 euros for this flight. Michel is viewed particularly critically. The travel costs are said to be up to four times higher than those of its predecessors. He often uses a private jet. For the coming year, the president's travel budget is to be increased even further by more than a quarter to 2.6 million euros.