Although the average CO2 emissions per passenger per km are on average up to 10 times higher for a private jet flight compared to a regular scheduled flight, the demand for private flights in Belgium is five times higher than in the rest of Europe.
According to the business newspaper L’Echo, which bases its figures on those from Wingx, a booking platform that leverages the live position of business jets. According to the platform, demand in Belgium is growing by 10,6% compared to 1,9% for the European market.
Increase due to the pandemic
In general, the phenomenon of the increase in the number of flights by private jets has received a massive boost from the COVID-19 pandemic. Sitting at just under 120,000 flights annually in the EU in 2020, that number skyrocketed to over 570,000 in 2022. Or a quadrupling of flights – the number of private jet flights in the US is consistently at a much higher level than in Europe, roughly 8 times higher.
The reason for this increase is twofold: concerns about health risk and the inability of airlines to cope with rising demand. Although you can safely add a third: the global rise in the number of millionaires.
Growing demand
If you look purely at Belgium, you can see that in 2020, there were about 2,800 flights by private jets. That figure quintupled by 2022, with more than 10,600 flights.
Forecasts by The Business Research Company indicate that the global private jet charter market will grow from $21.24 billion to $24.28 billion in 2025, representing a growth of just over 14%. And according to Wingx, demand in Belgium is growing at 10,6%, compared to 1,9% for the European market.
Hot spot Belgium
Belgium owes this growth in demand mainly to its central location, plus the fact that there is a lot of diplomatic and business traffic because of the European Union (plus lobby groups), NATO, and various multinationals being based in Brussels.
Moreover, Belgium also has a highly developed infrastructure for business aviation, with, in addition to Brussels Airport, regional airports such as Liège and Charleroi, Antwerp-Deurne (with private jet operator FlyingGroup), and Kortrijk-Wevelgem (which is quite popular with West Flanders entrepreneurs).
Additionally, Belgium has several favorable tax factors that make private jet use particularly attractive. For example, there is no wealth tax on owning a private jet (as there is no inheritance tax on foreign aircraft if registered adequately through the proper structures), and private jets are also exempt from excise taxes and VAT on kerosene used for international flights.
CO2 emissions
Therefore, all these factors make Belgium one of the European countries with the highest number of private jet flights per inhabitant. And such flights consequently also contribute to the country’s CO2 emissions.
According to Greenpeace, 55% of European private jet flights in 2023 were used for flights of less than 750 km. The Brussels-London route was the most popular for private jets in Belgium, with 647 flights. This was followed by Brussels-Paris (545) and Brussels-Geneva (407).
According to Greenpeace, these flights generated 41,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the average annual emissions of 278,310 cars, which raises questions given that on most of these connections, more environmentally friendly alternatives such as high-speed trains are available.
Green conscience?
This is not to say that wealthy business people, decision-makers with busy schedules, or private jet companies are doing nothing to reduce their carbon footprint. Some are cautiously starting to invest in electric private jets or offering the more expensive option of flying with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
However, the comment that flights by private jet discourage ordinary people from making an effort on their own. In contrast, other wealthier citizens would make none, sweep those same businessmen and decision-makers themselves under the rug when you see that, as L’Echo puts it, there is an increasing commitment to the model of co-owning private jets.
In that case, several customers jointly buy a private jet and then use it for à la carte service. This type of contract is reportedly especially popular in Belgium, and 59% of European growth is attributed to this co-ownership. At the end of the agreement, the aircraft is resold, and customers receive up to 50% of their initial investment back. Or how everything is once again purely about the money.
