Travellers in Europe paid more than €5.6 billion in aviation taxes last year, of which €3.6 billion was paid in the UK alone, said airline association, A4E, in a recent policy brief. The other big payers were travellers in Germany at €1.1 billion and in Italy with €600 million.
A4E says that government agencies, regions, local government authorities and industry have rejected the climate benefits of imposing aviation taxes, and argues that removing them is beneficial to European economies.
Among the cases cited by the group, it says that the Dutch government thought it would raise €300 million a year through imposing levies, but instead lost €1.3 billion to the economy and the tax was scrapped after a year. Similarly, A4E argues that Ireland scrapped their tax in 2014 and saw passenger numbers rise from 23 million in 2012 to 32 million four years later.
The lobby group contends that countries that have scrapped the taxes have seen an immediate boost in air transport and tourism, to the direct benefit of their economies.
The association said that the European Commission has acknowledged that aviation taxes may negatively impact connectivity and competitiveness and it has committed to publish a tax inventory to assesstheir effect on the economy.
