The Greens have demanded a ban on private jets at Scotland’s publicly-owned airports – and could make it a condition for support of a future SNP government. The party pointed to pressure from Scottish Green MSPs to secure a private jet tax which was announced by John Swinney’s administration in January.
Co-chief Ross Greer said private jets are “pollution-heavy vanity trips” for the super-wealthy that should be banned from state-owned airports including Glasgow Prestwick, Dundee and Inverness. He said: “Private jets are one of the clearest symbols of extreme climate and wealth inequality.
“The vast majority of people in Scotland will never go near one, but we all end up suffering from the damage they are doing to our climate Thanks to the Scottish Greens, work is already underway on a private jet tax to make sure the richest start paying their fair share.
“The next step is to ban these toys of the super-rich from landing at our publicly owned airports at all. Airports owned by the public shouldn’t be used to serve the whims of billionaires.”
Scottish Green Party co-leaders Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay at the launch of their manifesto
He said a ban would stop “climate-wrecking flights” from landing at Prestwick and the 11 regional airports covered by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, including Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, and Wick. With aviation powers reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government would not have the power to ban the planes from privately-owned airports such as Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen.
However the private jet tax, proposed as an additional levy on the devolved Air Departure Tax, would apply to any flights landing there. The number of private jet flights in Scotland grew to more than 12,000 in 2024.
Campaigners claim that with an average of just two or three passengers per plane when empty return journeys are included, private jets up to 30 times more polluting than standard flights. Globally, the richest 1 per cent are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of humanity put together.
A general view of Prestwick Airport -Credit:PA
It comes ahead of Holyrood polling day on May 7 which could see the Greens become kingmakers in the next parliament. Greer has previously suggested the only party he would deal with to support a minority administration is the SNP, claiming he could not work with Labour over Keir Starmer’s stance on Israel and Gaza.
He said: “Whether they are hopping between their shooting estates, mansions or superyachts, the result is the same – the public pays the price while the super-rich carry on as normal. The Scottish Greens believe that public airports should serve the public good, not act as a taxpayer-funded playground for the ultra-wealthy.
“This election is a chance to back real climate action and finally start holding the biggest polluters to account.”
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