Louis Vuitton founder Bernard Arnault announced on Monday he sold his private jet after people started tracking it on Twitter. ‘No one can see where I go’ he said. According to Business Insider, the billionaire said he’d started renting private aircraft for his trips instead. The decision is to avoid being tracked by climate activists. These activists say that private jets are 10 times more carbon- intensive than airliners on average.
In September, Arnault was ranked by Forbes to be the world’s second-richest person with a fortune of $153.8 billion.
The 73-year-old co-founder of the world-famous luxury goods maker conglomerate told French media that he has been renting private jets after selling the company-owned aircraft.
His announcement was made during an interview with Radio Classique and reported by Bloomberg. The radio station is owned by LVMH.
“Indeed, with all these stories, the group had a plane and we sold it. The result now is that no one can see where I go because I rent planes when I use private planes,” LVMH CEO said.
Twitter accounts that track the Louis Vuitton cofounder’s flights are @i_fly_Bernard and @laviondebernard. Both were created earlier this year.
On Monday, Arnault’s son Antoine Arnault defended the company’s use of a private jet after his father faced criticism from French media outlets over the jet’s influence on carbon emissions, according to Business Insider.
Elon Musk and Taylor Swift
As Travel Noire has recently reported, celebrities have been tracked and their flight data shared publicly over the past year. Taylor Swift, for example, received a lot of criticism after her jet was exposed as a major carbon emissions producer. At the time, spokespeople for the music star said the “jet is regularly loaned out to other individuals.”
Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his concerns over the sharing of flight data on social media. He offered $5,000 to Jack Sweeney, the man behind the Twitter account that tracked his travel, asking the Twitter user to shut it down. However, the Twitter account stays active.
“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk said in a text about the issue.
Sweeney also tracked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s private jet.
