I still can’t wrap my head around the physics. Commercial jets weigh more than private jets and carry much more people (which also contributes to the extra weight)
Doesn’t that mean the plane would have to do extra work to move around, and thus consume more fuel as an energy source?
Shouldn’t that make them emit more gases as end products of combustion?
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It’s not in absolute terms, but on a per capita comparison. Another example is to look at cars vs busses.
A bus and a car are propelled by more or less the same engine, but the bus has a much larger version which puts out more emissions. On the other hand, the bus can carry many, many more people. A car might carry 4 people, while a bus could carry 40. So even if the bus puts out 5 times more greenhouse gas, it is providing transport for 10 times as many people.
A common method to look at this on a per capita basis is emissions per kilometer/mile per person.
So in the same way, a private jet may only put out 1/4 of the emissions of a regular size jet, but it only carries 10 people, as opposed to the 200 that a regular size jet does.
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