Private Jets Pollute 14 Times More Than Commercial Flights and Are Undertaxed, IPS Report Says

On September 18, 2026, the Institute for Policy Studies published High Flyers 2026: The High Cost of Private Jet Excess, a report that calls luxury private aviation the most energy intensive and ecologically destructive form of transportation and argues that the small group of people who use it pays a vanishing share of the taxes that keep American air travel running. The study was written by report co-authors Chuck Collins and Omar Ocampo, who have been tracking the public costs of private jet travel since 2023.

The Guardian reported on September 18 that the new report finds private jet owners are not paying their fair share of aviation tax, even though the median wealth of a private jet owner is $190m and private jets are up to 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights. The report examines the growing use of private aircraft, the public infrastructure that supports them and the tax policies that benefit their owners.

Private aviation has expanded quickly in recent years. Emissions linked to that mode of travel have risen by 50 percent, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date, and the institute says at least 50 percent of private jet operations are for recreational, vacation and personal luxury travel. Common Dreams reported on September 18 that roughly 256,000 people, or about 0.003 percent of the population, fly on private jets, a group that includes ultrawealthy owners who use fractional ownership or private charter services.

To document the sector, the Institute for Policy Studies worked with a worldwide community of more than 20,000 open-source trackers to develop the Private Jet Emissions Tracker. The tool analyzes private jet flights arriving at and departing from specific locations during major events, including the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and every game of the World Cup.

Key Facts

Private jets and charter services now account for roughly 16 percent of the flight operations handled by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the report. The US Department of Transportation estimates that noncommercial private jets represent 7 percent of airspace activity, yet they contribute less than 0.6 percent of the taxes flowing into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, the pool of money that helps finance FAA operations.

The report places the private jet population in stark perspective. An estimated 256,000 people fly private, just 0.003 percent of the world's population, compared with the more than 100 million Americans who fly commercial every year. The median wealth of a private jet owner is $190 million, while the median wealth of someone with fractional ownership in a private jet is $140 million. Between 2019 and 2025, fractional jet ownership increased 65 percent.

Private jets are the most carbon intensive form of passenger travel, producing direct carbon emissions 10 to 14 times greater per passenger than commercial aviation, the report says. The gap is wider against ground transport: a private jet passenger is often responsible for roughly 50 times the emissions of a passenger traveling the same route by rail, and more than 200 times on rail systems powered by low carbon electricity. Private jets also typically fly at higher altitudes, contributing to effective radiative forcing that can be two to four times greater than CO2 emissions alone.

The geography of the boom is concentrated. The United States is home to 4 percent of the world's population but nearly 69 percent of the world's registered jets. Private jet operations and greenhouse gas emissions in two states alone, Florida and Texas, are greater than the 27 member countries of the European Union combined. The 2026 FIFA World Cup generated more than 92,000 private jet flights and 150 kilotons of excess emissions, the equivalent of 34,000 gas guzzling cars driving for a year.

Money flows toward the sector in other ways too. The National Business Aviation Association spent approximately $2 million lobbying in 2025 in support of legislation providing major tax breaks to private jet owners, the report says. More than a third of all Airport Infrastructure Grants awarded through 2026 went to airport projects that may primarily benefit private jets, amounting to more than $1.13 billion in grant funds. The report estimates that a luxury tax of 10 percent on used jets and 5 percent on new jets could have raised more than $3 billion in 2025, money that could be invested in sustainable ground transportation. There are 3,428 global billionaires as of this year.

Analysis

The bigger picture here is that private aviation has been allowed to function as a privately enjoyed service with publicly absorbed costs. The report's central arithmetic is simple: a sliver of airspace activity, under 0.6 percent of the taxes, and a bill for infrastructure, air traffic control and climate damage that is spread across the general public and the commercial passengers who use the same system.

ENM News reported on September 18 that private aviation in the United States is growing fast while the people at the top of that market pay far less into the system than their flights demand. That framing matters because the debate is usually staged as a question of personal luxury, when the report presents it as a question of fiscal fairness. The Transportation Department's own estimate, 7 percent of airspace activity against less than 0.6 percent of trust fund contributions, is the kind of asymmetry that usually triggers a policy response.

The Institute for Policy Studies reported on September 18 that the median private jet owner holds $190 million in wealth and that the National Business Aviation Association spent about $2 million on lobbying in 2025, focused on tax breaks for private jets and secrecy provisions. What this really means is that the sector's political strategy is defensive and cheap relative to what it protects. Two million dollars is a rounding error against billions in accelerated depreciation benefits and more than $1.13 billion in airport grants, and it buys the industry a seat at the table when aviation tax rules are written.

Chuck Collins, a co-author of the study, said the rest of the public should not have to pay for the luxury excess of the private jet billionaire class, and argued that hard earned tax dollars should not subsidize reckless air travel habits that further harm a warming planet. Omar Ocampo, the other co-author, said that since the institute first released its analysis in 2023, it has seen a shocking and irresponsible rise in the use of private jet travel. Those statements set the moral argument, but the numbers set the legal one.

Why It Matters

Aviation is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize, and the report argues that private jets make that problem worse while shifting the cost onto everyone else. Because private jets fly higher and produce radiative forcing two to four times greater than their CO2 emissions alone, the climate impact per flight is larger than a simple carbon count suggests. With emissions from the sector up 50 percent and fractional ownership up 65 percent between 2019 and 2025, the trend line runs against the direction that climate policy is supposed to take.

The tax question is equally consequential. The Airport and Airway Trust Fund pays for the air traffic control, runways and safety systems that private aircraft rely on, yet noncommercial private jets contribute less than 0.6 percent of its revenue while using 7 percent of the airspace. More than a third of airport infrastructure grants awarded through 2026, more than $1.13 billion, went to projects that may primarily benefit private jets. Taxpayers and commercial passengers are effectively underwriting a service used by 256,000 people.

The report also frames the concentration of the benefit: the United States holds nearly 69 percent of the world's registered jets despite having 4 percent of the population, and private jet activity in Florida and Texas alone exceeds that of all 27 European Union member countries combined.

Next Up

The report lands as a set of tax and infrastructure proposals rather than a single legislative demand. Its authors point to a luxury tax of 10 percent on used jets and 5 percent on new jets that they estimate could have raised more than $3 billion in 2025, and they argue those funds should be invested in sustainable ground transportation. The National Business Aviation Association, which spent about $2 million lobbying in 2025, is the main industry voice that would oppose such a measure.

The Private Jet Emissions Tracker built with more than 20,000 open-source trackers gives researchers and journalists a continuing ability to follow flights tied to the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and World Cup games, leaving the industry's growth exposed to event by event scrutiny. Whether Congress revisits the Airport and Airway Trust Fund formula, or the Department of Transportation and the FAA adjust how infrastructure grants are awarded, is the next test of whether the report's findings change policy or only the public record.