The EU will snub domestic flights with a surcharge to cover the environmental costs of airline routes. Travelers who, starting from tomorrow, 26 June, will choose to travel within the EU space by plane Lufthansa they will have to pay, in addition to the regular ticket price, a supplement. The German company made it known that “the surcharge is intended to cover a portion of the ever-increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory environmental requirements“. The economic news will soon involve other European carriers, given that they will all have to reach the net zero emissions by 2050, crossing an intermediate stage in 2030 with -55%.
The air surcharge to cover environmental costs
The Lufthansa Group, which includes Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Eurowings, will therefore be the first continental carrier to introduce a surcharge to the cost of tickets to cover environmental costs. The German company made it known that the tax, from 1 to 72 euros depending on the route and fare, it will affect all flights sold and operated by the Lufthansa Group departing from the 27 EU countries and from the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland, for tickets issued from tomorrow with departure January 1, 2025.
The fee applied to the customer – which will be indicated on the booking pages of the airlines of the Lufthansa Group in the price details – includes part of the mixing quota provided for by law, initially 2%, for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for departures from European Union (EU) countries starting from 1 January 2025, the adjustments to the EU’s emissions trading system ‘EU (EU ETS) and other regulatory environmental costs such as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
“The Lufthansa Group invests billions in new technologies every year and works with partners on innovations that, beyond the Lufthansa Group, help to make flying more sustainable step by step and advance the scalability of key technologies. Furthermore, the Lufthansa Group has actively supported global climate and weather research for many years“, we read in the note from the same company.
What’s happening in Europe
Travelers will therefore soon have to deal with a ticket cost higher for European flights of Lufthansa aircraft. Which, until now, offered the voluntary option Green fares for passengers willing to pay a little more to protect the environment (only 4% took part in the initiative). In any case, the German group will not be the only one to implement such a choice. As he explained Corriere della SeraAlso Air France-Klm And British Airways-Iberia they are preparing to increase prices.
The EU line, moreover, is very clear. The ReFuelEu package establishes that from 2025 all flights departing from an airport in the European Union will be obliged to use a minimum share of sustainable aviation fuel as well as synthetic fuels (e-kerosene). On the technical front, however, companies will focus on increasingly modern aircraft, more efficient engines and alternative fuel systems.
From the point of view of intercontinental flights, Bernstein analysts explained, in 2030 flying from Hamburg to Bangkok will cost from 40 to 59 euros more when passing through an EU airport. A stopover in the Middle East, however, will lead to a price increase of 12 euros. The environmental supplement, as mentioned, does not apply to flights departing outside the EU.
Again according to the same analysts, five years later the gap will widen further, going from an increase of between 78 and 120 euros more in the community area, to one equal to 19 euros for those who stop in a Middle Eastern stopover.
