BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The German government currently has no plans to lower the air travel ticket tax. "At present, there is no room for maneuver in the federal budget," the German Press Agency learned from government sources. Following the results of the coalition committee meeting in early July, reducing the air travel tax is not among the prioritized tax measures agreed upon for short-term implementation.
The draft budget for 2026 is set to be approved by the cabinet today. According to the cabinet proposal, revenues from the air travel tax are expected to reach €2.07 billion next year, with €2.05 billion planned for 2025. Once the cabinet has decided, the Bundestag will take up the matter.
In May 2024, the air travel tax was significantly increased, potentially making passenger flights from German airports more expensive. Airlines such as Ryanair canceled flights from German airports, citing high operating costs at these locations.
Creating Fiscal Leeway?
Regarding a possible reduction in the ticket tax, government sources indicated that one way to finance this could be to save the necessary funds in the individual budgets for transport or for economic affairs and energy. Rolling back the increase in the air travel tax during this legislative period would mean annual tax revenue losses in the mid-hundreds of millions of euros. The sources also noted that the main cost factor for airlines is airport charges, for which the Ministries of Transport and the Interior are conceptually responsible.
Coalition Agreement Commitment
In their coalition agreement, the CDU, CSU, and SPD wrote: "We want to reduce aviation-specific taxes, fees, and charges, and reverse the increase in the air travel tax." However, all measures in the agreement are subject to budgetary constraints.
Industry associations have long been calling for the increase in the air travel tax to be reversed, as well as for further relief from site-related costs. According to a report commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport and presented in March, significantly higher site costs such as the ticket tax are holding back German aviation compared to the rest of Europe.
Between 2019 and 2024, site-related costs in Germany rose much more sharply than the European average. After the severe downturn during the coronavirus pandemic, passenger traffic in Germany has recovered more slowly compared to other countries./hoe/DP/zb
