Tracking New England's top private jet travelers
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A Gulfstream G650 private jet. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images
Private jet travel generates a lot of carbon emission without transporting very many passengers.
- A new report from a progressive think tank is calling out the local executives and multi-millionaires that jet in and out of the Boston area the most.
Driving the news: The Institute for Policy Studies' report ranked the top private jet travelers by departures from Hanscom Field, which is New England's largest airport serving private jets.
The top travelers at the state-operated airport in Bedford between January 2022 and July 2023 included:
- Bronwen and J. Ryan Carroll: A BU Medical Center pediatrics professor and Charlesbank Capital Partners managing partner — 194 departures
- Robert Epstein: Managing partner of the Boston Celtics and CEO of the Abbey Group — 132
- John Fish: Suffolk Construction CEO —117
- An anonymous trustee of the Bank of Utah tied with John Childs, founder and chairman of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates — each had 103 departures.
Of note: Arthur S. Demoulas, the billionaire who unsuccessfully attempted to oust his cousin Arthur T. Demoulas from control of supermarket chain Market Basket, ranked #10 on the list.
Be smart: According to the report, several big names in Boston business requested no public tracking information of their aircraft, including Patriots owner Robert Kraft, New Balance chairman Jim Davis and Boston Globe and Red Sox owner John Henry.
- Congress is considering allowing private jet owners to block their FAA flight information from becoming public.
What's next: MassPort proposed adding 27 new hangars for private jet travel at Hanscom, which has drawn criticism from environmentalists.
- The Institute for Policy Studies estimates that would triple its capacity.