As of: February 2, 2024, 7:06 p.m
By: Fabian Hartmann
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Press
Split
The traffic light coalition wants to tax airline tickets more heavily from May 1st.
The basis for this is the new aviation tax.
Berlin – Air travelers could soon face significantly higher costs.
By increasing the so-called aviation tax, the federal government agreed to tax flight tickets more heavily from May 1st of this year.
As a result, passengers will be asked to pay significantly more in the future than before.
The newly passed ticket tax is linked to a number of other savings measures with which the traffic light coalition wants to counteract the current deficit in the federal budget.
In addition to the plastic tax announced in December (December 19, 2023) and planned cuts in pension subsidies, consumers could face additional costs of over 500 euros in 2024.
The federal government hopes that the increase in the airline ticket tax will generate additional tax revenue of up to 580 million euros, as a government spokesman told the
German Press Agency
(dpa) at the end of December.
While aviation tax revenue amounted to around 1.1 billion euros in 2022, the increase in ticket tax could increase it to around 1.5 billion euros this year.
The tax increase was originally supposed to be applied on January 1st.
In addition to higher flight prices, travelers could also expect a reduced flight schedule
The ticket tax affects all passengers who take off from German airports to national and international destinations.
The airlines will first have to pay the surcharges due to the traffic light coalition's planned tax increase.
However, they can also pass on the higher aviation tax to their customers.
Experts therefore assume that the prices of 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.
In addition to the higher taxes on airline tickets, air travelers could also expect reduced flight offerings from May.
The aviation industry had already sharply criticized the federal government's plans to increase the ticket tax on passenger flights at the end of December.
“In a European comparison, the burden of taxes and duties on air traffic is by far the highest in Germany,” a spokeswoman for the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL) told the
dpa
at the time .
New ticket tax for flights – this is how much it will cost passengers
The aviation tax or ticket tax has existed in Germany since 2011 - back then it was introduced to restructure the federal budget.
Last year the ticket tax was 12.48 euros for short distances.
For medium distances it was 32.25 euros and 58.06 euros for long distances, i.e. those over 6,000 kilometers away.
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According to the federal government's current plans, it is to be increased by a total of 19 percent on May 1st this year.
This emerges from a formulation aid for the draft law, which the cabinet
approved according to
dpa information.
Depending on the distance, the ticket tax would then have an additional impact on the actual ticket price of 15.53 euros for short-haul flights and up to 70.83 euros for long-haul flights.
It is therefore advisable for consumers to set their potential travel plans for this year earlier than usual.
Subsequently collecting the tax increase after the additional levy comes into force would then be legally difficult.
Voices from industry and government circles are now also pointing this out.
Lufthansa's board of directors sharply criticizes the new ticket tax
Experts have often predicted a bleak future for airline companies.
Lufthansa board member Harry Hohmeister is one of them.
The ticket tax increase will affect flights within Germany as well as those within the EU and especially those that are handled via smaller airports.
Hohmeister announced that he would take a closer look at certain flight routes that could become uneconomical due to the increase in ticket tax: “If we only fly from smaller airports with half-full planes, we will have to consider whether we can still offer certain flights,” he told the newspaper
World
.
imago0398291208h.jpg © IMAGO/Eibner press photo/Marcel von Fehrn
The German Travel Association (DRV) has already sharply criticized the increase in the aviation tax on May 1st that was decided today as part of the adoption of the 2024 federal budget.
“The ticket tax increase that was finally approved today is wrong,” DRV President Norbert Fiebig is quoted as saying in an association press release.
A later introduction of the ticket tax could have relieved air travelers
On the other hand, an increase in the tax at a later date could have benefited many consumers.
“Many trips for the summer have already been booked.
If these are subsequently burdened with a tax increase on the tickets, this will not only be at the expense of the holidaymakers, but also at the expense of the organizers,” explained Fiebig.
Since the costs could no longer be passed on to holidaymakers, a “more generous transitional arrangement” would have been “needed” according to the DRV president.
Fiebig's criticism is based primarily on the demand that the federal government could have waited until the end of the holiday season to increase the ticket tax.
“The short-term introduction harms summer vacationers – and therefore predominantly families with children.
“This is unacceptable,” he stressed.
(Fabian Hartmann)