Millionaire businessman groans over flying advertising
A millionaire businessman who is giving up his private jet because of its environmental impact complained about commercial flying before admitting he will still fly in luxury two or three times a year.
Stephen Price sells Cessna 650 Citation III jet estimated to cost $1 million and between $275,000 and $300,000 to operate.
Price, the vice chairman of the Patriotic Millionaires — a group of wealthy Americans pushing for higher taxes — said he was initially willing to ignore the fact that lavish travel was a pollutant.
“I was stunned by the fact that in being so enamored with private air travel, I was willing to ignore what a terrible mockery I was committing to the environment and to future generations,” he said. CNN.
Millionaire Stephen Price gives up his Cessna 650 Citation III jet because of its impact on the environment
‘I have to change. I just can’t keep doing this.’
Private jets emit at least 10 times more pollutants than commercial jets per passenger – a figure Price was surprised to realize.
This has caused the growing global fleet of private jets to contribute disproportionately to the climate impact of the aviation sector, according to a May report from the American Institute of Policy Studies say.
Price has had half a dozen private jets in his life and complained about commercial travel.
“It’s definitely the best way to travel,” he said of the exclusive means of transportation.
“But I give up, I’m just going back to flying commercially, as much as I loathe the process after flying privately for the last six or seven years.”
“TSA, long lines, canceled flights, lost luggage – I despise everything that comes with it and flying first class isn’t cheap either.
“But I made my decision in March of this year and I’m sticking with it, I’m selling it, I’m getting off aggressively.”
He did admit to the broadcaster that he would not completely scrap private travel, but would reduce it to two or three times a year.
“I have a friend who lets me lease his smaller plane,” he said.
“It’s a twin turbo, which burns about a quarter of the Cessna’s fuel—and I’m only going to use it two or three times a year to get to a pheasant sanctuary in the northwest corner of Nebraska. ‘
The private jet is estimated to be worth $1 million and costs about $275,000 – $300,000 each year
Price has had half a dozen private jets in his life and complained about commercial travel
Although Price made the choice for himself, he said he wouldn’t force the decision on others.
“I’m not going to try to sell this as a broadcast message in any way,” he said.
“When I talk to my conservative, wealthy friends, I certainly don’t hesitate to tell them to do the same, but it’s not a big mission of mine.
He does think that the rich should pay more taxes in the US and says, “I think all of us in American society don’t pay as much as we need to.”
“No one wants to pay taxes and they come up with all sorts of explanations and reasons why, but the real reason is they are greedy and so am I! We are all.
“But we all need to join the we society, not the me society. If we are not concerned with the greater good of all humanity, we are living on bad principles.”
The Institute for Policy Studies report echoed sentiment calling for higher taxes on private jet and fuel sales.
They have recommended a sales tax of 10 percent on used aircraft and five percent on new ones.
Meanwhile, they have called for the federal jet fuel tax to be doubled from $0.219 per gallon to $0.438 for frequent private jet users.
Chuck Collins, one of the report’s authors, told CNN that “private jets reflect the growing inequality and concentration of wealth and power in very few hands.”
“From an environmental point of view, we need to decarbonize the aviation sector and this seems like a really good starting point,” he said.
“It’s one of the largest emitters of carbon, but it really affects a very small number of people. We should have very high taxes, [usage] taxes and fuel taxes that discourage private jet owners.”
He added that we “shouldn’t be building new infrastructure to serve the private jet class.”
“In my community outside of Boston, there’s a private airport, Hanscom Field, and there’s a lot of pressure to expand it because that’s the suburban private jetport,” he told the broadcaster.
“But people are saying that in the same way we probably shouldn’t be building new fossil fuel infrastructure that will push us over the danger line in terms of emissions, we shouldn’t be building new infrastructure to serve the private jet class. That’s not really the direction we should be heading.’
The number of private jets has increased from 9,895 in 2000 to 23,133 by mid-2022, the report said.