24 April 2023 , 08:04
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A Dutch airport hopes to become the first in Europe to ban polluting private jets.
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has announced plans to stop private jets and small business planes from using its runways.
The major travel hub has argued the luxury form of transport is a noisy nuisance and terrible for the environment.
Its bosses have said those who use them are quite capable of travelling on commercial jets, which are far less polluting per passenger and fly to many of the destinations most popular with private plane users.
As part of the move, the airport will also abandon plans for a new runway, ban take-offs between midnight and 6am, and landings between midnight and 5am. This means 10,000 fewer night flights each year, the airport has claimed.
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Private jets may be luxury, but they're not good for the environment (Getty Images)If Schiphol manages to get the proposals past likely court challenges, it will serve as an example of how airports can play their part in tackling the climate crisis and reducing the impact of fuel guzzling forms of aviation.
"Schiphol wants a ban on private jets and small business aviation, which causes a disproportionate amount of noise nuisance and CO2 emissions per passenger - around 20 times more CO2 compared to a commercial flight," the airport announced.
"About 30% to 50% of these private jet flights are to holiday destinations like Ibiza, Cannes and Innsbruck.
"Sufficient scheduled services are available to the most popular destinations flown to by private jets. Capacity for social traffic like police and ambulance flights will remain unchanged."
If passed, the ban would come into force "no later than 2025-2026."
Last month an investigation by Greenpeace revealed how big the private jet industry has become.
One of the planes took off in the UK every six minutes, with the shocking data showing a 75% spike in the luxury means of travel in the UK in a year.
The airport wants the ban to come in before 2026 is out (NurPhoto via Getty Images)Now the country is the European capital of private jet use, with the 90,256 flights last year emitting half a million tonnes of CO2 - more than in any other European nation.
Thousands of the flights were just a few short miles or between capitals such as London and Paris, which are very well connected with speedy trains that produce a fraction of the emissions per passenger.
Klara Maria Schenk, lead transport campaigner with Greenpeace, told the Mirror that drastic action was needed.
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"Private jets are not regulated in anyway, in the EU they are exempt from almost any kind of regulations to curb CO2 emissions," she said.
"Our society has for a very long time neglected this problem, but we can't look away any more. We can't afford this approach anymore.
"In one year the emissions from private jets are equal to that of about 100,000 UK residents or 300,000 cars."