Super Bowl LVIII not only claimed the title of the most-watched television event in history but also drew an impressive number of private planes to Las Vegas over the weekend, nearing a record previously set during Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona.
Business flight tracker WingX reported a total of 882 private jets flying in and out of Las Vegas for the prestigious game, second only to the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, which saw nearly 1,000 private flights to Southern Nevada.
While much attention was drawn to Taylor Swift’s extensive 13-hour flight from Tokyo, many other private planes were utilized for shorter journeys. Some flights lasted less than 30 minutes, and a noteworthy 81 private jets shuttled back and forth between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a trip of less than an hour.
This surge in private air travel raises environmental concerns, as private jets emit significantly more pollution per passenger than commercial planes or trains.
Parking limitations in Las Vegas prompted several private jets to divert to nearby airports until their return journeys were scheduled.
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Critics have raised concerns about the environmental impact of private air travel, which accounts for an estimated 800 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to the International Energy Agency.
Despite the push for transparency, celebrities like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk have sought to conceal details about their private plane usage, citing safety concerns. Swift’s camp, for instance, issued a cease-and-desist letter to Jack Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student, accusing him of inadvertently aiding potential stalkers by tracking her private jet’s movements.
Sweeney, who gathers public flight data that private jets broadcast through ADS-B, argues for the importance of transparency and public information. Although he has faced legal threats, he maintains that the flight data he collects is publicly available.
Sweeney’s tracking activities have not gone unnoticed by Elon Musk, who engaged in a public dispute with him on Twitter. Musk’s acquisition of the platform, now known as X, for $44 billion in 2022, further added to the intrigue surrounding their confrontation.
Despite Musk’s concerns about privacy and safety, he refrained from banning Sweeney’s account, citing his commitment to free speech.
