The EU’s “Fit for 55” climate plan, which includes additional taxes on intra-European flights, could pose a threat to the competitiveness and employment of the European airline industry, expressed Lufthansa in joint statement with the Frankfurt and Munich airports. The German company says it supports the climate objectives of the European Commission, but the proposals of the plan constitute “not only a risk for airlines, but also for airports and therefore for the entire European air sector,” warned Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa’s CEO.
Airline tickets would become more expensive in Europe while the major hubs on the fringes of the EU would benefit.
Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa’s CEO
The European Union presented plans last July that foresee stricter rules on CO2 emissions and the use of synthetic fuel blends, as well as the implementation of a kerosene tax, Reuters reported. European airlines reject a kerosene tax outright and propose that the environmental protection surcharge be based on the entire flight route, not just a segment of it bringing passengers from the EU to international hubs such as Istanbul or Dubai.
The criticism from European airlines such as Lufthansa focuses on the reform of emission allowances, which would impose a tax on flights within the EU from 2023 and would give a disproportionate competitive advantage to foreign competition, not subject to these charges. This would make it more advantageous to transit via a non-EU hub.
The price of a flight between Europe and Asia via a German airport like Frankfurt would increase by an average of 25%. The extra cost via Istanbul would be only 4%, according to a study presented with the heads of Frankfurt and Munich airports.
Subsidizing Turkey and the Middle East cannot be the meaning or an acceptable side effect of Brussels policy.
Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa’s CEO
The study anticipates a drop of 119 million passengers in Europe, threatening 260,000 jobs. “This would be the end of direct access from European airports to international destinations,” Spohr said. In principle, European airlines and airports support the EU’s “Fit for 55” climate package, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.
The various measures of the climate program were presented last July by the European Commission. Negotiations on the dozen or so texts concerned are expected to last for several more months. At the end of January, a European alliance including Lufthansa, Air France KLM, SAS, the ADP group and Schipol airport in the Netherlands, published an open letter also stressing their desire to “reduce the environmental impact” of aviation, but asking for “adjustments” in the “Fit for 55” measures to “maintain European connectivity”.
