Jozsef Varadi has today called on the aviation industry to eliminate business class.

In a somewhat unlikely attack, the chief executive and co-founder of Wizz Air said luxury travel was a burden on the environment.

He explained: “These passengers account for twice the carbon footprint of an economy passenger, and the industry is guilty of preserving an inefficient and archaic model.

“A rethink is long overdue, and we call on fellow airlines to commit to a total ban on business class travel for any flight of under five hours.”

Wizz Air claims it currently operates with the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger among all competitor airlines, largely due to having a newer fleet of planes.

The low-cost carrier is also expecting to reduce the figure by a third for every passenger in the next ten years as older planes are replaced.

“We are already the greenest choice of air travel a passenger can make and have committed to reducing our carbon footprint by 30 per cent in the next ten years, but while it’s a step in the right direction, we still have a very long way to go.

“The industry as a whole needs to be more aggressive in its ambitions if we are truly to make a difference.”