Stephen Prince hates commercial air travel – the billionaire has only flown on private jets for the past seven years.
However, after learning about the environmental impact of private jets, the Prince is (mostly) ready to return to commercial flights.
“(Private flights are) the best way to travel. But I’m going to leave it at that. “I’m getting back into flying commercially after flying privately for the last six or seven years, as I despise the process,” Prince told CNN.
He is selling his nearly $1 million Cessna 650 Citation III to reduce the climate impact of his travels.
“I was shocked by the fact that I was so in love with private jet travel that I was willing to ignore the terrible travesty I was doing to the environment and future generations,” Prince told CNN.
“I want to change. I can’t go on with this.
Private jets have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as media attention has drawn many to learn about their huge contribution to pollution. According to CBS, people flying on private jets are responsible for 10 to 20 times more carbon emissions than those traveling on commercial flights.
Celebrities like Taylor Swift and Kylie Jenner have come under fire for overusing their private jets. This week, heiress Abigail Disney was arrested while protesting outside a Long Island airport that handles only private and chartered flights.
Prince says he has no intention of pestering his friends to give up their own private jets.
“I’m not trying to sell it as a broadcast message,” he told CNN.
“Talking to my conservative and wealthy friends, I don’t hesitate to say they should do the same, but it’s not my big business.”
He told CNN that he is not completely giving up private air travel.
“I have a friend who’s going to let me rent his little plane,” he said.
“It’s a twin turbo, and it burns about a quarter of the fuel of a Cessna — I only use it two or three times a year to go to a pheasant hunting preserve in the northwest corner of Nebraska. “