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ARCHIVED - Sanchez takes sixteen flights over two weekends within Spain
The president of Spain used army and government aircraft to attend near-by official events
Just two weeks after speaking passionately about Spain’s commitment to protecting the environment at the COP26 summit in Glasgow and pledging to allocate 1.35 billion euros to the climate change fund, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has caused outrage after it emerged he used two high-powered aircraft on two consecutive weekends to travel to official meetings.
In the first instance, an Army Superpuma helicopter flew from the Cuatro Vientos aerodrome to collect the president from Moncloa Palace before taking him to Torrejón de Ardoz airport, a journey of just 25 kilometres by car. The helicopter then returned to base empty as Mr Sánchez flew on the Government’s Falcon aircraft to a congressional meeting in Málaga on Sunday November 7.
The president then reversed the trip on the way home, with the Superpuma making six journeys and the Falcon two.
The debacle was repeated the following weekend when Mr Sánchez visited Benidorm in Alicante, where he announced a new digital tourism platform, and both aircraft were used again, with the Superpuma leaving and returning to base empty.
When questioned about the seemingly excessive use of the plane and helicopter, which generate a large amount of harmful emissions, a government spokesperson insisted that it is policy that the president travel by air whenever possible for “security reasons.”
Ironically, just last month, Mr Sánchez announced that, as part of his Spain 2050 report, he intends to eliminate all short-haul flights where an alternative train route is available after a study by the University of Manchester revealed that shorter air journeys are the main contributors to aviation emissions in Europe.
Image: Brighton City Airport
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