DAMAGING fossil-fuel powered private jets must be scrapped by 2025, a think tank warned yesterday.

There were 128,000 private jet flights between Britain and Europe last year, making up 6 per cent of Britain’s air traffic total, with a further 14,000 flights outside Europe, Common Wealth found.

A typical private jet passenger journey within Europe emits about seven times as much greenhouse gases as the same journey made in business class on an airline and 10 times more than an economy flight, according to the report.

For an equivalent journey made by high-speed rail this is 150 times higher.

About 40 per cent of private jet movements are “empty leg” journeys where the empty aircraft is “repositioned” for customer convenience.

Common Wealth is calling for a near-total ban on fossil fuel-powered aircraft by 2025 as the persistent use “in context of the escalating climate crisis can no longer be justified.”

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said the report “makes a very convincing argument” and that they will examine the proposals for a possible introduction of a “phase out date” for the use of the jets.

He said: “Why is the government enabling billionaires to trash the climate when it’s the rest of us who will suffer the consequences?”

“Climate targets cannot be met without curbing pollution from air travel, and a passenger on a private jet produces 10 times the emissions of someone on a regular flight. This simply cannot be ignored.

“In just a few years time it will be possible for these journeys to be made by electric aircraft — so long as government puts in place the right incentives.”