Drake, the rapper, has attempted to defend his use of a large private plane for a series of flights that lasted less than 20 minutes – by revealing that the aircraft was being moved to a storage location with no passengers on board.

The Canadian music star and several other celebrities, including the socialite and business owner Kylie Jenner, have recently been attacked online for using their private jets for short journeys that could easily be undertaken by car or public transport.

Over the past six weeks, Drake’s personal Boeing 767 has taken a seven-minute flight, a 12-minute flight and a 14-minute flight, all between Toronto and nearby Hamilton.

The 14-minute trip burned through 426 gallons of fuel and caused four tons of carbon emissions, which is the same as the total annual carbon footprint of an average person, according to Celebrity Jets, an automated Twitter account that tracks the private flights of the rich and famous.

Responding on Instagram to criticism of these flights, Drake wrote: “This is just them moving planes to whatever airport they are being stored at for anyone who was interested in the logistics … nobody takes that flight.”

While several of Drake’s fans responded with support, arguing that celebrities often move their planes for convenience, others pointed out the pollution from the flight was even more pointless given it didn’t transport anybody.

One reply to Drake stated: “OK but that’s worse, you don’t see how that’s worse?”