Private flights have boomed since the pandemic. Are taxpayers picking up the tab?

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought air travel to a halt three years ago, one segment of the travel sector boomed: private jet travel, a super-luxe mode of transportation enjoyed by a fraction of the world's wealthiest people. 

Private travel is the definition of exclusivity. The typical private-jet owner has a net worth of $190 million, according to a report from the Institute for Policy Studies released Monday. Yet the number of private flights hit a record high last year, the left-leaning think tank found, causing an alarming increase in carbon emissions. 

Indeed, while flying creates more carbon emissions than any other form of transportation, private jets are the worst of the worst. A person flying on a private plane emits 10 to 20 times as much carbon pollution as a commercial airline passenger, according to Transport & Environment, a European clean-transport group.