An air passenger got quite the view when taking off from France and shared a video clip to the community at r/aviation.
"Look at all of the private jets at Nice airport on takeoff," wrote the original poster.
The French city of Nice has been well aware of the impact of luxury travel on its infrastructure. The city's mayor has previously worked to ban cruise ships from docking there.
Besides being a tacky display of wealth, luxury travel produces an outsized share of pollution. Per passenger emissions from private jets are far higher than commercial airlines. For example, one study suggested that Jeff Bezos' two private jets crank out more pollution in a year than the average Amazon worker could in 207 years.
Worse still, private jet travel is on the rise. Between 2019 and 2023, private jet pollution went up 50%. A big part of this increase are empty legs, where private jets fly without passengers on board.
Private jet pollution has immediate effects on local air quality, but the issue is even bigger than that. Atmospheric pollution traps heat, exacerbates destructive weather patterns, and passes the costs of natural disasters to society at large. This has led to crises in home insurance and agriculture.
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The use of sustainable aviation fuel has the potential to reduce pollution from air travel, but there are much lower-impact options available, like rail. Taking the train when possible is not only better for the environment, it can be a very comfortable ride, too.
Reddit commenters were less than pleased to see so many private jets parked in the south of France.
"There are days when we were not able to stay overnight, because the whole apron was occupied," said one community member.
"But my gas car is the problem," replied another.
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