Flying is becoming more expensive
Federal government increases ticket tax on passenger flights
December 19, 2023, 4:51 p.m
The federal government’s plans for a kerosene tax on domestic air traffic are off the table. Instead, the federal government wants to increase the ticket tax on passenger flights. The aviation tax will be adjusted, a spokesman said.
The federal government wants to increase the ticket tax on passenger flights because of the budget crisis. The aviation tax will be adjusted, said the federal government spokesman with a view to the agreement on the 2024 federal budget.
This means that the possible introduction of a national kerosene tax is off the table. Kerosene used in commercial aviation is exempt from energy tax. A paper from the Ministry of Economic Affairs said: “Among other things, we will tax kerosene in national air traffic in the future.”
The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry had sharply criticized the possible introduction of a national kerosene tax. The state location costs in Germany are already the highest in a European comparison. A national solo effort to tax kerosene within Germany would make feeder traffic to German hubs more expensive and thus shift traffic to other European and international countries.
As the Federal Government spokesman has now announced, the aviation tax is adjusted annually so that it generates additional income in the amount of the privileged energy taxation of kerosene in national aviation. “This would lead to additional income of up to 580 million euros annually from 2024.”
The ticket tax, introduced in 2011 by the then black-yellow federal government to restructure the budget, has brought in annual revenue of around one billion euros. The airlines have to pay the surcharges, which are staggered according to the flight route. Last Wednesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Finance Minister Christian Lindner agreed on how billions in holes in the federal budget for 2024 and in the climate and transformation fund should be plugged following a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court.