A Belgian transport minister has come under fire for taking a private jet from Brussels to Antwerp, a journey of approximately 34 miles.

Lydia Peeters, mobility minister in the Flemish regional government, admitted she had taken a press flight organised by the private jet company ASL Fly Executive.

The journey, which takes 46 minutes on twice-hourly fast trains, has been heavily criticised by green groups and political opponents. One Greenpeace campaigner described the flight as “mind-blowing”, while a deputy for the Green party in the Flemish parliament, Imade Annouri, said it was nonsensical, polluting and outdated. “In several neighbouring countries, short flights are being phased out and investments are being put into rail links,” the Flemish deputy said. “I would prefer to see the minister for mobility in the avant-garde rather than supporting an airline company.”

Peeters said she had taken the flight to show support for regional airports, but conceded her presence at a press conference would have been enough. In a statement, Peeters said she fully supported initiatives to make the aviation industry more sustainable. “Mobility and sustainability will have to go hand in hand. I therefore fully understood the criticism of last Tuesday’s press flight.”

The minister had been attending an event to explain the Flemish government’s actions to help regional airports, such as Antwerp and Ostend, hit by the economic impact of coronavirus.

The criticism recalls the outcry when the federal environment minister, Marie-Christine Marghem, took a private jet to a UN climate summit in 2018, but declined to sign Belgium up to a group of countries pledging to make deeper cuts in emissions.

Belgium’s regions control many policies necessary to tackle the climate emergency, such as transport, housing and agriculture, which has contributed to slow progress. The nation is on course to miss climate targets in 2020 and 2030, according to an EU report.