For the wedding of Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), Friedrich Merz and his wife took their own private plane from Berlin to the North Sea island of Sylt. The CDU leader responded to criticism that he was using the wrong symbol in times of climate change and global warming with a dubious thesis.

Claim: “I use less fuel with this small plane than any official car of a member of the federal government,” said Merz in the ZDF “summer interview” that was broadcast on Sunday. But is that true?

Evaluation: To put it this way, it is wrong.

Facts: Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) writes in the direction of Merz via Twitter: “My company car is an electric car

Merz spokesman Armin Peter states that his boss’s two-engine Diamond DA62 consumes 44 liters of diesel per hour when the machine is traveling at 165 knots (around 306 kilometers per hour). The Austrian manufacturer Diamond Aircraft states the consumption at a certain speed in a similar amount. That means: At a cruising speed of 165 knots, the aircraft consumes 14.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers. If Merz had been on the road faster, the consumption would have been even higher.

In the fleet of the members of the federal government, the fuel consumption varies, but only in safety-relevant exceptional cases higher than the Merz plane. According to a list by the German Environmental Aid (DUH) from May 2022, like Özdemir, Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) is driving a purely electric car – i.e. without fuel consumption.

Because the hybrid vehicles of the cabinet members Svenja Schulze, Lisa Paus, Hubertus Heil (all three SPD), Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Volker Wissing and Marco Buschmann (all three FDP) can partly run on electricity, according to the DUH they consume on average between 1.7 and 2.7 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers. The petrol BMW from Minister of Construction Klara Geywitz (SPD) swallows 9.8 liters – all less than the Merz plane.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and some ministers are driving heavy, armored vehicles from the Federal Criminal Police Office’s fleet for security reasons. According to media reports, the Chancellor Mercedes S680 Guard, which weighs more than four tons, consumes around 18 to 20 liters per 100 kilometers.

The island is 440 kilometers away as the crow flies from Schönhagen Airport south of Berlin, from which Merz took off towards Sylt on July 8, according to radar data. With an average of 14.4 liters per 100 kilometers, that would mean consumption of around 63 liters. With a car distance of around more than 550 kilometers between the two places and a consumption of 9.8 liters (Geywitz) per 100 kilometers, it would only be just under 54 liters. If you take the reported 18 to 20 liters per 100 kilometers from Scholz’s armored car, it would probably be around 100 liters on the route.

As a member of the Bundestag, Merz, who once considered himself “among the upper middle class”, is allowed to travel by train free of charge. He would not have used a liter of fuel with that – but it would also have taken him significantly longer to get to Sylt. On July 11, the Diamond DA62, which now costs around one million euros, then flew from the North Sea island to Arnsberg Menden Airport in the Merz constituency of Hochsauerland.