The leading European airline group Lufthansa, owner in particular of Swiss, announced Tuesday to increase the price of all its European flights. The planned supplement must cover part of the costs linked to the environmental requirements of the European Commission.
The surcharge will apply for all flights scheduled “from January 1, 2025”, departing from the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) as well as the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland, indicated the group in a press release. Its amount will vary “depending on the route and the flight price”, on a scale between 1 and 72 euros, he added.
“The airline group will not be able to bear alone the increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the years to come,” Lufthansa explained on Tuesday. The company is referring to mandatory quotas imposed by the EU aimed at incorporating more sustainable fuels (sustainable aviation fuel, SAF) into aircraft tanks, in order to gradually replace kerosene.
The share of SAF must reach 2% from 2025, 6% in 2030, then 20% from 2035 and finally 70% in 2050. However, the production of SAF is still embryonic: in 2023 it corresponded to 0.5 % of global aviation fuel demand. Due to this low availability, their price is still three to five times higher than fossil kerosene, according to Lufthansa.
Multiplication of supplements
“The more SAF production increases, the more their price will fall,” explained a spokesperson for the group to AFP. As long as their price does not decrease, Lufthansa could continue to pass on the additional cost in the price of tickets, he warned. To make up for the delay in SAF production in Europe, the main European airlines including Lufthansa called in March on the EU to take inspiration from the United States where production benefits from incentives.
This environmental supplement is in addition to another surplus, optional this time, offered to travelers by Lufthansa and other airlines, to offset their carbon emissions through climate protection projects. This process was the subject of a complaint by consumer associations last year to the European Commission, accusing around twenty airlines of “greewaching (eco-laundering) and “deceptive commercial practices”.
“We are currently in discussions with the European Commission” on this subject, said a Lufthansa spokesperson.
