A new report has put a spotlight on the rapid expansion of private jet travel in the US, revealing that private jet owners are not paying their fair share of aviation tax despite the average owner’s wealth being $190m and private jets being up to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights.
The Institute for Policy Studies’ new report, High Flyers 2026, examines the growing use of private aircraft, the public infrastructure supporting them and the tax policies benefiting private jet owners.
The institute worked with a worldwide community of more than 20,000 open-source trackers to develop the Private Jet Emissions Tracker (PJET), which analyzes private jet flights arriving at and departing from specific locations during certain events, including the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and every game of the World Cup.
The number of private jet flights has surged in recent years, with climate-heating emissions linked to that mode of travel rising by 50%, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date.
At the same time, private jets and charter services now account for roughly 16% of flight operations handled by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the institute’s report.
The US Department of Transportation estimates that noncommercial private jets represent 7% of airspace activity but contribute less than 0.6% of the taxes flowing into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which helps finance FAA operations.
Private flights, used by an estimated 256,000 people (just 0.003% of the world’s population), are the most polluting form of transport, producing direct carbon emissions 10 to 14 times greater per passenger than commercial aviation travel, the report said.
Private jet ownership has expanded alongside the growth of the ultra-wealthy, the report said. The median wealth of a private jet owner is $190m, while the median wealth of someone with fractional ownership in a private jet is $140m.
“The rest of us should not have to pay for the luxury excess of the private jet billionaire class,” report co-author Chuck Collins said in a statement. “Our hard-earned tax dollars shouldn’t subsidize their reckless air travel habits that further harm our warming planet.”
Between 2019 and 2025, fractional jet ownership, a program in which one buys an equity share of a private aircraft in exchange for a guaranteed number of annual flight hours, increased 6%.
The boom in private aviation is also driving demand for additional infrastructure, including expanded private aircraft hangars and greater runway capacity at local and regional airports.
The report also highlights lobbying and tax policy benefiting private aircraft owners. The National Business Aviation Association spent approximately $2m lobbying in 2025 in support of legislation providing major tax breaks to private jet owners, the report said.
Collins added: “At a time when most ordinary people are struggling to afford groceries, rent and healthcare, our report exposes how the ultra-rich and greedy corporations are private jet-setting at the expense of the rest of us, while trying to dodge accountability for fueling the climate crisis.”
