Millionaire who says flying on private jets is as addictive as cocaine is now selling his plane

Private aircraft produce between 5 and 14 times more pollutants per passenger than commercial planes. (Representational photo)

"Don't do it unless you're ready to get addicted to it. Because it is absolutely addictive."

That's how US's Stephen Prince described the experience of flying on private jets. The businessman owned three of them, now he's trying to sell them off and fly first-class in a commercial airline instead after he learned of the environmental impact of using private jets. He is now trying to sell off his Cessna 650, a 12-seater that consumes more than 900 litres of fuel per hour.

Speaking to the Business Insider, Prince -- a multi-millionaire who made the majority of his fortune starting a plastic card printing business -- said that using private jets is one of the best perks of wealth. He described the experience as something so amazing that it can be compared to that of an addiction to cocaine.

"I will literally drive to the side of the plane, and the pilots will unload my luggage and put it in the plane, and then somebody else will go park my car," he told the publication.

Speaking about the change of heart after learning about the environmental impacts, Prince told Business Insider, "I get on my plane and I'll spew ten times as much carbon into the atmosphere as I do when I get on a first-class flight on Delta or American Airlines. It's just unconscionable -- It's incredibly selfish."

According to a 2021 study, private aircraft produce between 5 and 14 times more pollutants per passenger than commercial planes and emit up to two metric tons of CO2 in an hour.

"It (flying private) is a very amazing way to live one's life," Prince added. "If you can get over the amazingly selfish attributes that it represents."

He declined to share his net worth with the publication but claimed to be in the "top tenth of the 1 percent," is the vice-chair of Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who advocate for higher taxes on the rich, including themselves.

Ever since the pandemic affected commercial flights, wealthy Americans became hooked to private jets. The surge in US-based business jet flights is a cause for concern to climate change scientists and environmentalists especially because aviation accounts for 2.5 percent of global CO2 emissions.

Even celebrities like Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, singer Taylor Swift, and model Kylie Jenner have received lash back on social media for their luxurious flight habits.

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