As of: February 2, 2024, 12:04 p.m
By: Mark Stoffers
Comments
Press
Split
The new aviation tax is due to come in May 2024.
Passengers will be asked to pay heavily by the airlines due to the new ticket tax.
Berlin – For many people, their vacation plans for 2024 are already at least in the starting blocks.
But due to the new ticket tax, booking tickets for air travel at the beginning of the year should be quicker than usual. After all, the traffic light is not only putting the red pen in many areas because of the budget, but is also planning further tax increases in addition to the plastic tax, which will increase the additional costs of could mean 500 euros for every citizen.
Air traffic is also a focus.
With the planned increase in the so-called aviation tax, the traffic light government wants to close part of the budget hole.
But how expensive will flying be and when will the new ticket tax come?
New ticket tax on airline tickets: When the traffic light tax increase should start in 2024
The ticket tax was originally supposed to apply from January 2024, but now the planned traffic light tax increase will not come until May 1, 2024.
This emerges from a so-called formulation aid for a draft law that the cabinet
approved according to
dpa information.
This now enables the coalition factions to introduce the new ticket tax for air travel to the Bundestag.
The increase in the aviation tax is part of the federal government's package of measures to make up for billions in holes in the 2024 budget following the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling.
The traffic light coalition is hoping for substantial additional revenue by increasing the ticket tax.
If the revenue from the aviation tax amounted to 1.1 billion euros in 2022, the tax revenue from the aviation tax is expected to increase to around 1.5 billion euros in 2024.
In the following years, the traffic light even expects additional income of around 580 million euros per year from the tax increase.
Traffic light tax increase in aviation tax: How much is the new tax on airline tickets?
How much is the new ticket tax for air travel?
From May onwards, the aviation tax is set to rise by a good 19 percent.
This is another reason why consumers should finalize their vacation plans for this year earlier, as airline tickets are prepaid.
Subsequently collecting the tax increase after the levy comes into force should then be legally difficult.
This is also pointed out by voices from industry and government circles.
A passenger plane takes off from Frankfurt Airport in front of the setting sun.
From May onwards, the ticket tax is set to rise by 19 percent.
© Boris Roessler/dpa/archive image
That's why no airline is currently informing its passengers about the possible increase in ticket tax.
The planned tax increase is clearly noticeable in terms of price.
Depending on the final destination of the trip, the ticket tax increases prices by almost a fifth.
This means: If in 2023 the cost for a flight within Germany or in member states of the European Union was 12.73 euros per passenger and trip, the ticket tax will rise to 15.53 euros from May.
For flights over 6,000 kilometers away, the cost per passenger will now be 70.83 euros instead of 58.06 euros.
New ticket tax on air travel: Air traffic tax as a traffic light tax increase hits passengers
The ticket tax affects all passengers taking off from German airports.
The airlines will have to pay the surcharges due to the possible tax increase on traffic lights.
However, the higher taxes in the aviation tax can be passed on to the passengers.
That's why experts assume that the prices on airline tickets are likely to rise significantly from May.
“Especially in the area of so-called cheap flights, the tax can make up a significant proportion of the total flight price,” says the wording aid.
But air travelers will probably not only have to expect higher prices in the future, the supply of flights could also be affected by the planned ticket tax in May.
In any case, the higher air traffic tax doesn't make the airlines happy - despite Transport Minister Wissing's defense of the new tax.
In addition to the ticket tax in May, passengers will probably face new costs next year
Lufthansa board member Harry Hohmeister makes a gloomy forecast for domestic flights within Germany, the EU and especially for smaller airports because of the new ticket tax.
He announced that flights that become uneconomical because of the tax would be examined.
“If we only fly from smaller airports with half-full planes, we will have to consider whether we still offer certain flights,” he told the newspaper
Welt
.
In addition, there are the costs that are particularly burdensome for European connections.
After all, airlines have long had to purchase emission rights certificates for these routes.
German airlines paid around 70 million euros for this last year.
From 2025, the EU Commission will also stipulate that two percent of synthetic fuel, so-called SAF, must be added to conventional kerosene.
But it is scarce and expensive.
There are also additional costs that, apart from the new ticket tax in May, will probably also affect passengers in terms of ticket prices for flights on intra-European routes.