France’s minister delegate for transport Clément Beaune says he will try to talk his EU counterparts into banning or restricting private business jet use when the politicians get together in October. Beaune said he wants the EU involved so that members “have the same rules and impact is maximised,” according to Corporate Jet Investor. Beaune says the huge carbon output for such a small number of people can’t be justified and he favors an all-out ban. But he’s already said he’ll accept regulation and restriction, although he didn’t discuss what that might look like.
The business jet industry reacted predictably. “It is very unfortunate that the minister goes for the easiest route by blaming CEOs that are keeping France and the EU afloat,” Robert Baltus, chief operations officer of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA), told CJI. It’s thought Beaune came up with the idea because of Twitter accounts tracking the movements of corporate aircraft and pointing out the short duration of some flights, some of which may be repositioning flights. “It is with astonishment that we realised that the political agenda of the French republic is now defined based on a Twitter account,” Baltus said.
