Passengers will soon be paying more to travel by air following the decision by various airlines to up their air fares.
Airlines could soon be charging passengers up to 25 cents per ticket to cover a new carbon emissions eco tax which has been slammed by some as “eco-lunacy”.
Brussels Airlines, Air Berlin, Lufthansa and Ryanair have all announced that they will be putting up their fares because of increased carbon emissions compensation costs.
However, neither national carrier TAP nor UK airline British Airways have announced a price hike.
The airlines state they are reacting to a new price increase for carbon emissions from the Emissions Trading Scheme which came into force on January 1.
The scheme aims to control the amount of carbon gas emissions produced from companies and power generators because they contribute towards the greenhouse effect.
German carrier Lufthansa was the first airline to announce that it would pass on increased costs, which are added on fuel tax, to passengers.
The airline estimates that the new tax will set airlines back an additional total of €130 million.
Air Berlin believes an additional €28 million will be added onto its operational bills, while Ryanair says it will charge its passengers an extra €0.25 per ticket for what it called “the European Union’s eco-lunatic tax”.
While Easyjet has called the charges “limited” in impact, TAP stated in December that it would set back the company an additional €15 million in 2012.
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