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French pilots are calling for a strike over rising taxes. But what do air passenger taxes mean for your wallet?
ADVERTISEMENTIn France this week, the national union of airline pilots (‘Syndicat national des pilotes de ligne’ or ‘SNPL’) is calling a strike to protest the rise in air taxes. Concerns have been voiced that the latest planned amendment to aviation taxes could lead to tens of thousands of job losses in the country and affect tourism.Air passenger taxes across Europe have increased this year. Read on to discover how this impacts the cost of your next flight.What is air passenger duty tax?Air passenger taxes are usually in addition to other taxes you pay when you book a flight. Governments add them to encourage flyers to consider the environmental impact of their travel choices and discourage unnecessary air travel. As you would expect, each country calculates their taxes differently based on the size of airports, popular regions, and types of aircraft, such as commercial planes and private jets.Collecting these taxes is the responsibility of airlines, who charge them to customers as part of their ticket. The money is then spent at the discretion of each country’s government, often to fund public services. These air passenger levies can raise substantial sums – for example, the UK government raised over £3 billion (€3.75 billion) between 2019 and 2020.Some taxes, such as the French Eco Air Tax, are specifically designed to fund climate and environment-related issues, such as raising revenue for alternative transportation modes and more sustainable aviation infrastructure.Who is for and against air passenger taxes?Airlines are concerned about what extra taxes mean to passengers and call them “anti-growth”. IATA director general Willie Walsh slammed the German tax this year, while Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said that the UK’s planned Air Passenger Duty (APD) rise would cause the budget airline to cut its flights to and from the UK by 10 per cent, which is the equivalent of five million passengers.Environmental campaigners say that air passenger duty taxes could go much further to discourage flying.Hannah Lawrence at Stay Grounded, a network to counter aviation, says, “Measures to stop the growth of air traffic are exactly what we need.”“We need to see effective policies implemented across Europe that fairly reduce air traffic, such as the implementation of a Frequent Flying Levy. [This] would reduce emissions by reducing excessive flights for wealthy passengers.”When Switzerland proposed a ticket tax (or ‘flugticketabgabe’) in 2021 to reduce aviation’s impact on climate change, over half of Swiss voters rejected it. A year later, however, a representative survey conducted by the market research institute GfS Zurich and commissioned by environmental organisation Umverkehr indicated that almost three-quarters of respondents supported the Swiss ticket tax for climate reasons.ADVERTISEMENTMany of the respondents were clear on the potential of such a fund: 75 per cent wanted the tax revenue to go towards Swiss climate protection projects, while 55 per cent wanted to see the money support international rail transport.Interestingly, younger travellers were less in favour of the Swiss ticket tax.How do European countries compare on their passenger air tax?Passenger taxes are in addition to other taxes, including airport taxes based on the traffic volume at different airports and civil aviation tax.FranceFrance has an eco tax, known as ‘éco-taxe’ or ‘éco-contribution’, which first came into effect in January 2020. It applies to travellers departing from French airports.ADVERTISEMENTPassengers travelling to destinations in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom and Switzerland are charged either €2.63 or € 20.27 per passenger, depending on their class of travel. For all other destinations, passengers pay €7.51 on the lower rate and €63.07 on the higher rate per passenger.GermanyGermany’s aviation tax covers passengers on commercial flights, and a price increase came into effect on 1 May 2024.The rates are fixed at €15.53 per passenger for short-haul domestic flights and €39.34 per passenger on long-haul flights no more than 6,000 kilometres, and includes countries in North and Central Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. ADVERTISEMENTFor some destinations, including transatlantic flights, the rate is €70.83 per passenger.ItalyAny passengers arriving or departing from an Italian airport pay the Italian aero taxi tax, known as ‘imposta erariale sui voli dei passeggeri di aerotaxi’, which is similarly based on the distance travelled. The lowest rate is €10 per passenger when the distance is below 100 kilometres and can be up to €200 per passenger for distances over 1,400 kilometres. Commercial flights that sell seats rather than rent out the entire aircraft and private, non-commercial flights are both exempt from the tax.ADVERTISEMENTUKThe UK’s APD was first introduced in 1994. Fees are based on distance in miles from London. The system also considers different classes of travel, with business and first-class passengers paying higher rates. It was recently announced that the APD will increase from April 2026, meaning an extra £2 per passenger will be charged for economy tickets on short-haul international flights.The lowest rate starts at £8 (€9.53) per passenger for domestic flights and can be as high as £1,141 (€1359.72) for private jet passengers.According to Ryanair, this latest APD tax rise means that a family of four flying to Spain from the UK will need to pay an extra £60 (€71.50). ADVERTISEMENTThere remains an unusual loophole in Britain’s scheme, known as the ‘Inverness Immunity’. Savvy travellers can avoid paying any APD by opting for return flights from Inverness, a small airport in the Scottish Highlands, to hubs like London and Amsterdam. As long as connecting flights are within a 24-hour window, passengers can avoid the tax due to an exemption that protects the region’s remote rural and island communities.DenmarkDenmark is still to launch its passenger tax on air travel (‘passagerafgift på flyrejser’), which will come into effect on 1 January 2025. The specific goal of this tax is to support the country’s green transformation by investing in more sustainable aviation and transport technologies.There are three tax rates based on the final destination of a journey, including intra-European, medium-distance, and long-distance journeys.ADVERTISEMENTThe tax applies to all commercial flights from Denmark, except flights from the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The NetherlandsThe Netherlands first implemented its air passenger tax in January 2021 and has one of the highest in Europe, costing €29.05 in 2024, regardless of a passenger’s final destination.Children under two years of age, flight crew on active duty and inactive flight crew travelling to another airport for the purpose of work, as well as transit and connecting passengers, are exempt from paying.PortugalPortugal adopted its aviation carbon tax, known as ‘taxa de carbono sobre viagens aéreas’, in July 2021. ADVERTISEMENTThe tax law has undergone significant changes and now covers both commercial flights and non-commercial private jet flights, but for the average commercial passenger, it’s €2 each.
