Image of concerning air travel trend sparks debate: 'Should be near zero'

A Reddit user has sparked a discussion after posting a flight map. It showed an overwhelming number of private jets zigzagging across North America.

The post, titled "There's way more private jets than I expected," shows the map crowded with tiny plane icons. Each one represents a private aircraft picked up by radar. For many, the sheer scale was shocking.

Private jet use has long been criticized for the amount of polluting gases it emits. 

According to a 2023 report from Greenpeace, private jets are up to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights per passenger and 50 times worse than trains. Despite their small number of passengers, their fuel burn and emissions rival — and sometimes exceed — those of packed commercial airliners on short routes.

This post comes at a time when climate advocates are calling for stricter limits on luxury emissions. They argue that the wealthiest travelers are responsible for a disproportionate share of planet-warming pollution. 

Earlier this year, Euronews reported that several European countries renewed discussions about taxing or even banning short-haul private jet flights. The countries stated that it's an issue of fairness and a climate necessity. Sustainable jet fuel is another developing solution to aviation's pollution problem.

On the thread, one person's comment started a discussion: "There's waaaay more than that. That's just all flight radar picks up." 

Another argued, "That's not that much. The graphic icons just take up a disproportionally larger amount of screen space." 

In response, one commenter disagreed: "That's wrong.. the amount of private jets that fly over me everyday is insane. I live in Jersey so [the] majority are landing at Teterboro, coming in from the Caribbeans/Florida." 

Regardless of just how accurate this particular image is concerning private flights operating on a single day, most people agree it's simply too many. 

One person wrote: "Should be near zero. No one needs that much money and 95% of those people are [not] popular enough for commercial to be too dangerous for them."

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