The fight against climate change is forcing us to rethink the air business and has brought some governments against companies. This is the case of the French Executive. If it recently prohibited short regional flights with an alternative by train – a measure with little real impact in the country but a powerful message for airlines and public opinion – now it proposes a rate, a kind of minimum rate, to tax flights , with the low cost in the spotlight.
This was stated this week by the French Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, in an interview in L'Obs collected by Afp. In it, he stated that "in the next few days" he will propose to his European counterparts to create "a minimum rate" on plane tickets to "fight against social and environmental dumping."
For Beaune, the prices of some companies, essentially the low-cost ones, do not cover the real cost per passenger of air transport, which "emits many more greenhouse gases than rail."
"At a time of ecological transition, it is no longer possible to pay for plane tickets of 10 euros," he insisted. Flying has become more expensive in the past year and cheap fares are hard to find. But even so, the French minister considers that betting on low prices in air transport trivializes his impact. In addition, Beaune insisted on the need to tax polluting activities in order to invest in the ecological transition.
The Government of the Netherlands has also undertaken its particular crusade, but in this case against noise pollution. On Friday, he announced that he is continuing with his plans to limit the number of flights at Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam, from 2024 to reduce the noise suffered by residents of the area. It is one of the largest airports in the world, and now the Government has presented a plan to the European Commission to go from the current 500,000 flights a year to a maximum of 452,500.
In addition to cutting annual operations, the Netherlands' measures include restricting the number of night flights to 28,700 movements or using quieter aircraft. According to his calculations, the plan would reduce noise by 15%.
"Aviation brings many wonderful things to the Netherlands, as long as attention is paid to the negative effects for the people who live around the airport," said the interim Minister of Infrastructure, Mark Harbers, in statements collected by Efe.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) or Airlines for America (A4A) were quick to react. According to the airline employers' association, a cut in flights of this magnitude at Schiphol will mean a reduction in slots that will have a negative impact on passenger and freight services.
In the first half of 2023, this airport registered a total of 28.7 million passengers, still 16.8% less than the 34.5 million in 2019, but 20.5% higher than the tourists in 2022.
