Nearly 100 private jets flying guests to Bezos-Sanchez wedding: report ...Middle East

Nearly two weeks ago, 62 carbon-spewing private jets reportedly flew world leaders into Kananaskis, Canada, for the G7 summit, raising serious questions about the travel choices of those who are supposed to be tackling climate change and other global crises.

But that figure of 62 now looks modest compared to the number of private jets expected to descend on Venice later this week, carrying the 200 or more rich, famous and influential friends of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. These guests have been invited to help the couple celebrate their marriage in the most extravagant and controversial way possible.

For the wedding of the Amazon founder and his former TV personality bride, “a staggering 96 private jets are expected to touch down near the ancient Italian city, according to Luxury Launches, citing a report in the Italian publication Affaritaliani.

“Anti-oligarch” locals, protesting the three-day wedding festivities that are scheduled to start Thursday, complain that Bezos and Sanchez are turning their city into “a billionaire’s playground.” The couple are reportedly taking over fleets of water taxis as well as major tourist destinations, such as the picturesque island of San Giorgio Maggiore, for their ceremony and parties. City leaders also face criticism for allowing an event that will effectively close down the city’s center “to please a billionaire,” The Guardian reported.

Meanwhile, the news that so many private jets are being used to transport guests to Bezos and Sanchez’s wedding won’t be lost on the couple’s critics. The guest list, incidentally, includes Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger, Orlando Bloom, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Leonardo DiCaprio also may attend, though as a self-described environmentalist he may repeat an effort he has made in the past to  avoid the “eco-hypocrite” label by traveling via commercial jet.

Certainly 96 jets for a reported 200 guests — or roughly two people per plane — seems excessive and unnecessary. Bezos and Sanchez also have made themselves vulnerable to criticism about all the private jets because they have spent the past several years trying to portray themselves as concerned, caring global citizens and dedicated environmentalists with their $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund.

The Bezos Earth Fund said it recognizes that climate change poses a grave threat to humanity. But its founders have apparently not tried to arrange alternative, eco-friendly ways to help their celebrity friends travel to their wedding.

Private jets are widely known to be bad for the environment, with the European advocacy group, Transport and Environment, reporting in 2021 that private planes are five to 14 times as polluting as commercial planes on a per passenger basis, and 50 times as polluting as trains.

Bezos, in fact, faced criticism in 2021 when he traveled to the COP26 climate summit in his $65 million luxury Gulf Stream jet. He was among a number of government and business leaders and celebrity environmentalists, including DiCaprio, Bill Gates, former President Joe Biden and then-Prince Charles, who attended this pivotal climate summit. Many, except for DiCaprio and Biden (using Air Force One) traveled to the summit on some 400 private planes.

At the time, a representative for Bezos’ Earth Fund took umbrage at the criticism that he was an “eco-hypocrite.” The spokesperson told this news organization that the multibillionaire uses “sustainable aviation fuel, and offsets all carbon emissions from his flights.”

However, this spokesperson declined to answer a follow-up question about the argument that carbon offsetting doesn’t really cancel out the emissions to which they are linked, and that people like Bezos — with vast choices and resources — shouldn’t be engaging in pollution behavior in the first place.

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