The prime minister has been accused of hypocrisy for flying short journeys domestically, given his pledges to curb planet-warming carbon emissions. But Mr Sunak has said air travel was the “most effective use of my time”.
In response to Freedom of Information requests, the BBC was told the number of domestic flights on Command Support Air Transport aircraft broken down by prime minister between July 2016 and April 2023.
The RAF division - known as 32 Squadron - operates two Dassault Falcon 900LX jets and a helicopter to transport the PM and other ministers domestically.
The prime minister sometimes has access to an RAF Voyager plane for overseas trips, and the government also charters private flights on aircraft operated by Titan Airways.
Separately, Mr Sunak has accepted more than £70,000 worth of private jet and helicopter travel to Conservative Party events from political donors this year.
Mr Sunak’s use of flights for UK engagements has come under intense scrutiny, with critics questioning why he had not used the train instead of RAF aircraft for relatively short trips to Newquay, Dover and Leeds this year.
Labour said the PM was “developing an expensive habit of swanning around on private jets courtesy of the taxpayer”.
The party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, suggested Mr Sunak had breached the ministerial code, which states he is supposed to use scheduled flights, unless “it is essential to travel by air”.
So, which is more important - Earth or Rishi Sunak’s time …
I know which is more self-important - Little Rishi …
I like Rishi…I think his time is better spent running the country than sitting for hours on trains…North Yorkshire is not an easy place to commute to and from.
I’ve noticed Rishi uses air travel when he could easily use the train.
If Rishi is travelling to Leeds or other places along that main railway line, it would be an easy enough train journey, whether he was travelling from his home in London or his home in Yorkshire.
It’s only a 4 mile, 10 minute drive from his Yorkshire home to the mainline railway station in Northallerton.
Northallerton to Leeds is less than an hour. Northallerton to Kings Cross is two and a half hours.
He could do what thousands of other commuters do and use the journey time to do some work on the train - I’m sure he must have plenty of reading and planning work he could do whilst he’s sitting on a train, so I don’t buy the excuse about effective use of time. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Rishi’s lifestyle does not look as though he’s very committed to reducing the carbon footprint - but the same can be said for many other politicians.
Sunak has a lot of appeasing meeting and greeting to do after the tory catastrophe that was Boris Johnson who was ably assisted by Liz Truss …
Trains when they aren’t on strike they are working to rule .
Car journeys can take forever .
Before I retired I worked in London two days a week commuting from Leeds…how wonderful if the journey was as easy as you suggest…in truth the train was often delayed or cancelled… Even though I booked a seat the seat booking was void and I often had to stand most of the way…I’m not a high profile person but it would be difficult to provide security …who would want to be Prime Minister of this country!
All the more reason for the PM and other politicians to make the effort to travel by train occasionally - if they experienced what the rest of us have to put up with, they might get something done about it!
It sends out a very poor message if the PM thinks our transport service is too unreliable for him to travel on it, so he solves his own transport needs by using private air travel, whilst leaving the people he’s representing to put up with a badly managed train system.
The RAF division - known as 32 Squadron - operates two Dassault Falcon 900LX jets and a helicopter to transport the PM and other ministers domestically.
What does it cost to hire a heavy private jet in the UK?
If you’re travelling with an even larger group of passengers, a heavy jet is ideal. The Dassault Falcon 900EX and Bombardier Global 5000, for example, both have 13 seats (depending on configuration) and luxurious interiors, ensuring your party arrives at its final destination in style.
Heavy jet charters from London Farnborough to Glasgow can cost anything from £25,000. A 13-seat Bombardier Global 5000 or 6000 can complete the journey in a little over an hour at a price of about £30,000, while prices start from £28,500 for a 12-seat Bombardier Challenger 650 or a Embraer Legacy 600 or 650.
A two-way trip could cost over £60,000 - additional “specialised” costs could push that to £75,000 or even £100,000
Are Sunak’s jet journeys worth the “official” equivalent …
What? Easily use the train? Have you tried train travel lately? Strikes, refusing overtime and much sickness has reduced rail travel to becoming a laughing stock joke!
Yes, I do travel by train about once or twice a month - from the same station that Rishi would use if he was travelling from his home in Yorkshire.
Obviously, I know there’s issues with the trains, which is why I was playing Devil’s Advocate and saying Rishi could easily get the train, like thousands of other commuters have to.
I know that those main line trains are always crowded at peak travel times - and that trains are sometimes cancelled at short notice - if Rishi tried travelling on them occasionally, it may goad him into tackling the problem properly.
We need our politicians to experience what we do before they can understand what needs to be sorted out.
But Rishi would not be travelling alone and his army of protection officers would probably require a complete carriage, and with the public excluded so that they could ensure he was as safe as possible,
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