Jet-set Sunak! Rishi is most frequent flyer among recent premiers with PM revealed to have used RAF jets and helicopters for domestic flights once every eight days since entering No10

• Rishi Sunak has taken 23 domestic flights on official aircraft over 187 days

Rishi Sunak has used RAF jets and helicopters for domestic flights once every eight days since entering No10, it has been revealed.

According to new data, the Prime Minister has boarded RAF aircraft for journeys within the UK more frequently than his three immediate predecessors.

Since he took office on 25 October and up to April this year, Mr Sunak has taken 23 domestic flights on official planes and helicopters over 187 days.

This is an average of one flight every eight days, which puts the PM ahead of Liz Truss (one flight every 12 days on average), Boris Johnson (one flight every 20 days) and Theresa May (one flight every 13 days).

As well as his use of RAF aircraft, Mr Sunak has also seperately declared more than £70,000 worth of air travel provided by private donors for political events since becoming PM.

He also has access to an RAF Voyager plane for overseas trips, as well as an Airbus A-321 operated by the charter carrier Titan Airways on behalf of the UK Government.

Rishi Sunak has used RAF jets and helicopters for domestic flights once every eight days since entering No10, it has been revealed

According to new data, the Prime Minister has boarded RAF aircraft for journeys within the UK more frequently than his three immediate predecessors

Mr Sunak recently defended his use of air travel for domestic journeys as ‘the most efficient use of my time’

The domestic flying habits of recent PMs 

Theresa May

83 domestic flights on RAF aircraft in 1,106 days in office – an average of one flight every 13 days.

Boris Johnson

57 domestic flights on RAF aircraft in 1,139 days in office – an average of one flight every 20 days.

Liz Truss

4 domestic flights on RAF aircraft in 49 days in office – an average of one flight every 12 days.

Rishi Sunak

23 domestic flights on RAF aircraft in 187 days in office – an average of one flight every 8 days.

*Source = Ministry of Defence data obtained by the BBC 

Ministry of Defence data, which showed the total number of domestic flights on Command Support Air Transport aircraft between July 2016 and April this year, was obtained by the BBC through Freedom of Information requests.

The RAF division – known as 32 Squadron – operates two Dassault Falcon 900LX jets and a helicopter to transport the PM and other ministers domestically.

Mr Sunak recently defended his use of air travel for domestic journeys as ‘the most efficient use of my time’.

It came after he was quizzed about his choice of transport for a journey to Scotland, where he announced new licences for North Sea oil and gas drilling.

‘I’ll be flying as I normally would and that’s the most efficient use of my time,’ the PM said in a radio interview.

‘Every prime minister before me has also used planes to travel around the United Kingdom because it’s an efficient use of time for the person running the country so we can keep focusing on delivery for people.’

Mr Sunak also argued against ‘getting people to ban everything’ in a bid to reach the Government’s target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which he recently recommitted to. 

He added: ‘Actually that question brings to light a great debate here, if you or others think that the answer to climate change is getting people to ban everything that they are doing, to stop people going on holiday, I mean, I think that’s the absolutely the wrong approach.’

The PM has previously been criticised for using a helicopter to travel to Southampton from London, which is a 70-mile journey that takes less than 90 minutes by train.

He was also accused of behaving like an ‘A-list celebrity’ after using an RAF jet to fly 250 miles to northern England to promote ‘levelling up’ funding in January.

As he embarked on a tour to promote Government help for deprived areas in January, Mr Sunak flew from RAF Northolt, north west London, to Blackpool on a 41-minute flight.

That was the third time he had used an RAF aircraft in ten days for trips within Britain, while it was noted a train from London Euston could have got the PM to his Lancashire destination in less than two hours.

In March, it was revealed Mr Sunak had spent more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ cash on private jets to take him on foreign trips totalling eight days. 

These included the PM’s journey to the Cop-27 climate change summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and his trip to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November.

In comparison to Mr Sunak’s use of RAF aircraft for domestic flights as PM, Ms Truss took four domestic flights during her 49 days in office, Mr Johnson took 57 flights in 1,139 days during a spell in office dominated by Covid travel restrictions, and Mrs May took 83 flights in 1,106 days, the MoD data showed.

Labour accused Mr Sunak of ‘developing an expensive habit of swanning around on private jets courtesy of the taxpayer’.

The party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, suggested the PM had breached the ministerial code, which states he is supposed to use scheduled flights, unless ‘it is essential to travel by air’.

A Downing Street spokesperson told the BBC that ministers ‘sometimes require the use of non-commercial air travel’.

‘This is a standard practice for governments around the world and this has consistently been the case under successive UK administrations of all political colours,’ the spokesperson said.

‘Value for money, security, and time efficiency is taken into account in all travel decisions and all flights are carbon offset.’

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