Jet set

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jetset or Jet Set ( Engl. For Schickeria ) commonly referred to an international social class, to which the young rich ( yuppies are counting), which has enough money to frequently meet at exclusive international locations (using an aircraft) to which most people don't have access to.

history

The term is derived from a lifestyle in which the plane ( jet ) is used to switch between the most beautiful, hippest and most exotic places in the world in quick succession. The term originated at a time when airfares were extremely high and hardly affordable for average earners. However, entry into this party scene is not subject to any elitist requirements as in high society .

The history of the term can be traced back to the introduction of special "jet" scheduled flights from the 1950s. Up to that time the term “ café society ” existed, which in a very similar way referred to a lifestyle in which wealthy people could afford to travel between such places. They already used the services of the airlines that were established in the 1930s and 1940s, at that time still with fan guns. The significantly faster jet aircraft developed for military use were initially too expensive for normal passenger operations; However, the BOAC recognized a special need: beginning on May 2, 1952, it set up the first route with the De Havilland Comet between London and New York City and shortly afterwards to Paris, Rome and Los Angeles. The offer expanded quickly, with more and more flight destinations promising beaches and party life being added to the business centers - in addition to the classic destinations of society such as Bermuda , Cannes , Saint-Tropez , Portofino , St. Moritz , Gstaad , others such as Acapulco , Nassau and Huntington Hartford's new Paradise Island (from 1962) added, as well as Capri and smaller towns on the Riviera . From 1974, many Greek islands such as Mykonos could also be served directly - Jetset was then referred to this route network for a long time. Nowadays, jet planes are the standard for general passenger traffic, so jet set means more of a social group that can afford luxury travel or even private planes to meet in the most diverse and mostly exotic places around the world. Today, the destination is almost freely selectable, unlike in the first decades of the jet set.

Already in the early days of the use of the term, reference was made to those celebrities (playboys, artists, creative people, writers, aristocrats and wealthy) who are not shy about the public media - paparazzi and tabloids emerged, some of which (actually happened or staged) the life of the rich and famous. The fast life alternating between Paris and Rome gained a foothold in the public consciousness and was taken up on film in 1960 by Federico Fellini's La dolce vita . It is unclear who invented the term; there is evidence that it was first spread by Igor Cassini in his columns for papers for the Hearst publishing companies .

While the jet set phenomenon dwindled in the 1970s, the Concorde created a new way of moving particularly quickly. The route network of this supersonic aircraft was limited to a few lines. From January 21, 1976 there were the routes London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio de Janeiro (via Dakar); from November 1977 she flew regularly to London, Paris and New York. Supersonic gave a new boost to the jet set ("From rock stars to royalty, the Concorde was the way to travel for the jet set" - NOVA), but in 2003 Concorde flights were discontinued.

The term jet set has been adopted in some languages; many languages ​​have their own terms for this lifestyle, such as 'wa-Benzi' ( Benz people) in Central Africa.

The lifestyle of the jet set is increasingly criticized for the associated CO 2 emissions in the debate about the climate crisis . A study by the University of Lund on the subject of super emitters showed, for example, that entrepreneur Bill Gates made 59 flights in a private jet in 2017 and flown over 200,000 air miles; The entrepreneur Paris Hilton , who became known as the It Girl , achieved similar values . For Gates, this corresponds to CO 2 emissions of 1,600 tons. Its CO 2 emissions therefore correspond to the CO 2 emissions of around 10,000 average people. Bill Gates commented on the extent of his air travel as a "guilty pleasure".

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The London Standard. March 20, 2006
  2. ↑ On-line NOVA transcript (January 18, 2005)
  3. ↑ https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/these-celebrities-cause-10000-times-more-carbon-emissions-from-flying-than-the-average-person
  4. ↑ https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/these-celebrities-cause-10000-times-more-carbon-emissions-from-flying-than-the-average-person
  5. ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-enjoying-his-guilty-pleasure-2015-4
  6. ↑ Generation J. in Welt am Sonntag of October 20, 2013, page 67

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Jetset  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations