The idea has been floated on a number of occasions but campaigners have again urged the chancellor to start taxing jet fuel and they appear to be confident they may get there was as the new Labour government sets about plugging the economic black hole left by the Conservatives. The thinktank Transport & Environment (T&E) UK claims that a jet fuel tax on airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet, TUI, Jet 2 and British Airways could raise as much as £6 billion a year.
Transport & Environment (T&E) UK said introducing a “fair” equivalent to the fuel duty paid in other sectors could raise between £400m and £5.9bn a year, based on the 11m tonnes of kerosene consumed by planes taking off from the UK in 2023.They have proposed an initial rate of 9p per litre starting next year, with planned incremental increases aimed at equating this duty with that of road fuels by 2030.
The idea has been knocking around for years, back in 2021 a government report concluded that a small minority of frequent flyers dominated air travel in almost all countries with high aviation emissions, analysis suggests. In the UK, 70% of flights are made by a wealthy 15% of the population, with 57% not flying abroad at all.
There were calls then for a frequent flyer levy - a tax that increases the more you fly each year. Greenpeace supported the tax and also wanted air miles banned because they say it encourages frequent flying.
And, last year in Mallorca, left-wing parties called for the creation of a Balearic tax on private jet emissions to compensate for the environmental damage caused by these aircraft. Figures for Palma Son Sant Joan Airport indicate that 15,250 planes used the private jet terminal between January and November last year. When December is added, the annual total is expected to top 16,000, a record number.
Over the course of the year, movement of private jets and air taxis pointed to Mallorca having become the preferred destination for European luxury tourism in the Mediterranean. In high summer, there were 2,383 and 2,081 flights in July and August respectively. In June, there were 2,130, up from 1,835 in 2021, which was the previous record for the month. Although there were in fact decreases in the numbers of flights in July and August last year compared with 2021, there was an increase of 75% compared with 2019.