Aviation tax is moderate: external costs are twice as high

Berlin. In the controversy over the tax on plane tickets, the Pro-Rail Alliance has called on the federal government to remain firm on its ecologically motivated aviation taxes. "Aviation is the most environmentally damaging form of transport, but it receives the highest subsidies from society," said the managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, Dirk Flege, on Tuesday in Berlin.

Unlike the railways, aviation transport is not liable to fuel duties or ecology tax, nor is it subjected to value added tax. A charge of 26 Euros for a long-haul flight and 13 Euros for short-haul is in no way too high. Flege explained that the external costs for a short flight from Berlin to Munich were actually around 29 Euros. "These 29 Euros - the cost of damage to the environment and climate change - are currently being paid by society. The fact that the airline industry prefers the status quo shouldn't deter the federal government from its plans," said Flege, referring to a study on the external costs of transport in Germany by the Swiss research institute INFRAS.

However, the Pro-Rail Alliance is of the opinion that not only aviation passengers should be included. "In order for the aviation charge to be effective as an ecological instrument, it must also be imposed on aviation freight transport".