Jet flies 26 miles (and burns 47 carloads of fuel) to pick up England's pampered soccer stars

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The jet was in the air for just ten minutes from Stansted to Luton and used the equivalent of 47 carloads of fuel.

The flight last Tuesday, carrying just three crew and 12 cabin staff, was so brief that the Boeing reached only 5,000ft before starting its descent to Luton. England's stars – including Steven Gerrard and captain Rio Ferdinand – then boarded it to fly to Paris for their match against France the next day.

They had previously returned to their £500-a-night, five-star hotel, The Grove, at Chandler's Cross, near Watford, after three days' training at St Albans.

But rather than take a one-hour coach journey to Stansted, the players were driven for 30 minutes to Luton Airport 18 miles away while VIP charter airline Titan Airways flew the plane to meet them.

Stansted is 36 miles from the hotel. The plane then flew to Paris, burning a further 7.2 tons of CO2 – equivalent to more than twice that used on average in a family car per year.

An FA spokesman said: "We are eco-aware but there is a significant security element to consider.

"For example, at Luton, we can drive straight on to the tarmac and on to the plane.

Own goal: The Titan Boeing 737 flew just 26 miles and used nearly a ton of fuel

"We have been with Titan since 2006 and we are very happy with their service.

"We don't determine if a plane has to fly from one airport to another to pick us up. That is up to the airline." Titan Airways refused to comment.

Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth said: "It's an environmental own goal. If their excuse was security, what do they know about coach travel that the rest of us don't?"

BA admitted last night that it flew a jumbo without passengers from Heathrow to Cape Town last Tuesday. It blamed the "temporary unavailability" of the necessary crew in London for the 6,000-mile trip, needed to retain its take-off and landing slot, which burned the equivalent of 5,400 carloads of fuel.