With a combined net worth of almost $1.7 billion, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are easily able to fund a private jet.
Despite flying on privately owned planes on multiple occasions, Kim doesn’t own a private jet.
Read more below about the Kardashians flying privately and the less glamorous side to the aviation industry.
Kim and Kanye Flying in Style
Kim Kardashian gave a video tour on Instagram of hers and Kanye’s private jet after they hopped on the flight the day after Thanksgiving 2018. In the video you can see the camera pan out around a dozen rooms either full of large, plush leather chairs or a large super-king sized double bed. The luxury spread makes you forget you’re even on a plane. Kim tells the camera that it’s her first time on the Boeing 747 and whilst moving through comments on the planes enormity, “it’s, like, endless,” she says.
Kim goes on to tell her viewers, “we actually brought our trainer on the plane since it’s so long so we can work out here.” But it doesn’t stop there. Kim then makes her way up the stairs of their “double-decker” plane into what she calls the “dining room” with a large table, more chairs and circular seating booths. It feels as though you could get lost in there, it’s so big. See the full video of Kim’s plane tour below.
Much Private Jets Cost
Adam Twidel, CEO of PrivateFly told Refinery29 that “the particular plane Kanye and Kim were on is privately owned. As such, we can only estimate as to the cost required to operate it, but it’s in the neighborhood of $200,000 per hour. To put it in perspective, Air Force One is a 747-200, a slightly bigger version of the same model, and costs about $250,000 an hour to operate.”
Furthermore, Kim says in her virtual tour that the couple had 10 hours sleep, taking this into account, and the fact that they still had time for a workout, Simple Flying estimates their flight cost at a minimum of $2.2 million both ways, meaning it would have cost a total of $4.4 million, assuming that the couple took the same plane home again.
However, in Kim’s video the celeb also mentions “Team Adidas”, which is the owner of Kanye’s Yeezy brand, so there’s a possibility that it was a company-funded ride. If either Kanye or Kim were to buy the plane to own it would cost around $419 million. Boeing airlines is a popular and successful private jet company with models ranging from $89 million to $442 million.
The Rise in Air Travel Pollution
Even though taking a flight in million-dollar luxury might on the surface appear glamorous and wonderful, there is a much darker side to air travel, one that accounts for 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
The 747 that Kim and Kanye used produces 92kg of CO2 per hour, meaning that their total trip would have released 1840kg of CO2 into the environment. That would be the equivalent of driving a car over 4554 miles, or a third of the earth’s diameter, for a plane journey for fewer than ten people.
Carbon emissions were the highest on record in 2019, with the United States accounting for 14% of them. It has also been documented that over half of all carbon emissions were produced between 1988 and 2014, meaning that the lifestyle that we choose to live today is possibly putting the world as we know it in danger.
Even though Kim does not own a private jet, today the Kardashians are known to almost exclusively fly in private jets. Although this is exciting, it is important to remember what it costs not only Kim but the planet also.