The private aviation industry is seeing an uptick in booking requests for private planes from opulent Americans who are trying to go back home while the government imposes travel bans and restrictions to contain the proliferation of the fatal Coronavirus.
On the contrary, American travelers who have fewer means remain stuck abroad with only a little help coming from the United States embassies or the State Department.
This situation is only pointing out the economic inequality among individuals, with the wealthy booking private aircraft and obtain necessities like protective surgical masks and testing kits while the less fortunate depend on government aids to survive.
The recent surge in the number of people renting private jets also brings a drastic effect to an existing crisis that the world is facing– climate change. According to some experts who specialize in clean aviation, private jets eliminate planet-warming emissions 10 times much more than commercial aircraft.
The Air Charter Service USA said that chartered private planes, which can accommodate a maximum of 18 passengers can cost $4,000 to $20,000 for every hour that it travels.
A total of three private jet companies have confirmed that they have experienced a tremendous increase in the interest and travel bookings ever since President Trump imposed a one-month travel ban from Europe to the United States on several commercial airports.
According to Richard Zaher, the founder and CEO of Paramount Business Jets, they are experiencing a 300 percent year to year increase in requests for private planes depending on the areas. But now that the European travel ban and restriction was imposed, the company has seen charter requests increased to almost 400 percent in only a span of several days.
PrivateFly’s CEO Adam Twidell noted that the company has received 50 to 60 percent additional inquiries than the same times last year.
Similarly, Hannah Sharratt, a spokesperson for Victor, a London-based company, emphasized that there is an important role played by private jet operators after airlines were forced to shut down their operations. According to her, private aviation became even more of a crucial service provider and an imperative part of repatriation as well as medical evacuation when commercial airlines are not able to support at the moment. Sharratt also emphasized that passengers who ride private jets are at a much lower risk of exposure to the deadly virus.
Neglected and Away From Home
However, not everyone is fortunate enough to rent a private aircraft. Over 50,000 Americans are still stranded outside the country and have asked for help from the State Department in hopes of going back home.
Peter Barbot, a yoga and scuba diving instructor from San Diego had been stuck in India. According to him, he had been trying to go home ever since travel bans were announced. However, all flights cost three to four grand ever since the travel restrictions were imposed.
When asked about the idea of flying privately, Barbot answered that he is a backpacker, and he teaches scuba diving and yoga, which means that he does not have the means to rent a plane. Barbot further noted that the luxury of flying privately isn’t an option with his finances. He ended his statement saying that others who have the means of renting a charter plane can do so and that he would also rent one himself if only he could pay for it.
Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, ordered a total lockdown for India’s 1.3 billion citizens. But Barbot said that even before the total lockdown, the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India were not returning any calls from many worried and stranded Americans.
Barbot thinks that the most significant problem now is that most people are not even aware that they were stranded outside the country and that they feel like they were already forgotten while they are on the other side of the globe.
Similarly, it was believed that thousands of U.S. citizens are stuck in Peru, where a lockdown has also been imposed. There is a Facebook named “Americans Stuck in Peru,” which had more or less 4,800 members as of the time of writing.
One member of the Facebook group posted a message saying that they are contacting the embassy every day but no one is picking up their calls.
Moreover, a State spokesperson was asked for a comment about the current situation and said that the department had sent over 9,000 Americans from 28 countries. He said that their Consular teams are moving continuously in order to find transportation options for Americans seeking repatriation.
Ian Brownlee, the head of the State’s repatriation task force publicized that they are working 24/7 to help the U.S. citizens to go back home. These efforts include those who were stuck in Peru.
Climate Impact and Carbon Emissions
The increase in the number of private aircraft traveling to pick up customers and bring them to their destination yet has an impact on another global crisis that everyone has been long dealing with– climate change.
ClearView Energy Partners noted that the international air traffic decreased by approximately 70 percent due to the pandemic. However, an increase in private chartered flights was also recorded.
A single flight on a private aircraft can cause seven times more carbon emissions per passenger compared to a typical business class flight, 10 times more carbon emissions compared to an economic flight, and 150 times more emissions in comparison to a high-speed rail trip, as reported by the UK-based non-profit Common Wealth.
According to Mathew Lawrence, the director of Common Wealth, noted that there is deep inequality among the wealthiest and the less fortunate. The most opulent tend to emit far more carbon emissions than the bottom 15 percent of the globe’s overall population. Lawrence further added that Coronavirus and all public health emergencies do not occur in a closed space. Instead, they intersect with existing inequalities which means that the less fortunate get more affected than the wealthy individuals.
Lawrence emphasized that if one is lucky enough to own a home where it is pretty easy to continue working even when not in the office, then maybe it is not that bad to stay at home for a couple of weeks.
Moreover, Lawrence also empathizes with people who had to charter private jets in order to get back home. The Common Wealth director noted that he does not begrudge anyone who rented a private plane to return home and that he can understand why people had resorted to such.
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