Lufthansa, the German airline group, announced on Tuesday that it will add an environmental charge to its fares in order to cover the cost of increasing EU climate regulations. The charge will range from €1 to €72 per ticket, depending on the type of ticket and the route, and will apply to all flights departing from EU countries, as well as Britain, Norway, and Switzerland.
The airline group stated that the charge is intended to cover part of the steadily rising additional costs due to regulatory environmental requirements, such as the statutory blending quota of initially 2% for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This requirement is part of the EU's efforts to reduce emissions in the aviation sector. "The airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own," said Lufthansa.
The aviation sector is considered one of the toughest to decarbonize, and sustainable aviation fuel is seen as a crucial ingredient to hitting emissions targets. However, SAF is currently more expensive to produce than traditional jet fuel. Lufthansa is not the only airline to introduce an environmental charge. Air France-KLM imposed an SAF contribution charge in January 2022, adding up to €12 on business fares and up to €4 on economy fares at the time.
The price hike, which Lufthansa called an "Environmental Cost Surcharge", will cover part of these costs for 2025 and will apply to all airlines in the Lufthansa group except for Eurowings tickets sold directly by the company. On long-haul flights, the costs will go up between €18 and €36 for business fares and up to €72 for first-class fares from 2025. The Lufthansa Group aims to halve its net carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 2019 and to go carbon neutral by 2050. After having to be bailed out by the German government during the coronavirus pandemic, Lufthansa racked up healthy profits in 2022 and 2023 as travel demand roared back.