BRUSSELS — The Cannes Film Festival starts Tuesday, which means a lot of private jets are going to be flying into Cannes–Mandelieu Airport despite the looming jet fuel crisis.
Some campaigners are calling for private jets to be grounded, but the business jet lobby is shrugging off those demands, saying the sector isn’t large enough to make much of a dent in fuel use and pollution.
While big airlines like SAS and Lufthansa are cutting thousands of flights due to rising fuel costs tied to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, private jet departures in Europe rose 10 percent last month, according to the Carbon Sky Index, a private aviation emissions tracking platform.
Disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has pushed jet fuel prices in Europe to double prewar levels. Goldman Sachs research shared with POLITICO estimates that commercial jet fuel stocks in Europe, excluding government reserves, could fall below 23 days of supply by the end of May or early June — a critical threshold flagged by the International Energy Agency.
