Since the time Elon Musk acquired the social network Twitter (now renamed X) at the end of 2022, Elon Musk has had to frequently travel from Texas (Tesla’s headquarters) to California (where the headquarters of Twitter and Tesla).

Elon Musk regularly uses private planes to travel, even short distances (Photo: Getty).

Like other billionaires, Elon Musk owns a private plane to meet his numerous travel needs. However, the number of times Elon Musk uses his private plane in 2023 may surprise many people and cause a lot of controversy.

Accordingly, Elon Musk currently owns not only one but two private planes, including a Gulfstream G650ER and a Gulfstream G550. The total value of these two aircraft is more than 150 million USD. Elon Musk is said to be ordering another Gulfstream G700 priced at $80 million.

In particular, Musk often uses the Gulfstream G650ER for personal transportation, while the Gulfstream G550 is often used to serve Musk’s SpaceX company.

According to statistics from JetSpy, a website containing a database of flight itineraries, Elon Musk’s private plane has made more than 441 flights, as of December 14. This means that on average every day in 2023, Musk used a private plane more than once.

JetSpy said that Musk’s private plane made 1,161 flight hours in 2023, with an average of 2.5 hours per flight, equivalent to the flight time from the city of Hawthorne, California (where the headquarters is located). SpaceX) to the city of Brownsville, Texas (where Tesla’s headquarters is located).

The longest flight that Musk’s private plane has ever taken in 2023 lasted 13 hours, and was a flight from the US to Tokyo (Japan) last August. At that time, Musk was seen with his ex-girlfriend Grimes and the couple’s common son in Tokyo.

Elon Musk’s private plane parked at Beijing airport when the billionaire visited China in May (Photo: Tingshu Wang).

Elon Musk also regularly uses private jets to make business trips abroad, such as a trip to China in May, or the most recent time Musk took a flight to visit Israel in November. where this billionaire met with Israeli leaders and visited the area of war between Israel and Hamas.

In contrast, Elon Musk also regularly uses private planes to travel short distances, including flights that only last 5 minutes, or sometimes flights that last 10 to 15 minutes. These are flights between cities in the state of California, where Tesla and Twitter are headquartered.

Previously, Elon Musk was discovered using a private plane to travel less than 10km, a length long enough to travel easily by car.

Elon Musk is controversial and criticized for abusing private planes

Elon Musk’s excessive use of private planes to travel has caused much controversy in the online community.

Many people think that for a busy person like Elon Musk, saving time is very important, so this billionaire needs to shorten travel time and private jets are the most reasonable solution.

However, many people have criticized Elon Musk for his actions of abusing private planes that have caused negative impacts on the environment.

Elon Musk was criticized by environmental activists for overusing private jets (Photo: Getty).

Environmental activists say that each personal flight releases tons of CO2 into the environment, accelerating the global warming process, and if billionaires can cut down on the number of times they use private planes, it will contribute. protect the environment.

According to data from JetSpy, Elon Musk’s private plane emitted about 5,159 tons of CO2 emissions when making flights in 2023. Meanwhile, according to the University Association for Atmospheric Research, the average American emits 16 million tons of CO2 every year.

In addition, JetSpy also estimates that Elon Musk’s personal plane consumed 2,040,174 liters of fuel in 2023, equivalent to fuel costs of 3.2 million USD.​