Airports Council International (ACI) and Airlines for Europe (A4E) have both added their voices to criticise the recommendations put forward by the GSLTF, which is a coalition made up of France; Kenya; Barbados; Spain; Somalia; Benin; Sierra Leone; and Antigua and Barbuda.
The proposed tax aims to help a select group of countries mitigate the impact of climate change, and has already come under fire from IATA last week.
ACI Europe Director General, Olivier Jankovec said the idea was equivalent to “social-economic self-harm”.
“[The tax] ignores the fact that what precisely sets aviation apart from other sectors is its ability to support wider economic activity along with a wide range of positive societal outcomes – ranging from poverty reduction to gender equality and quality education,” he said.
“It will also hamper progress towards our shared net zero goal by diverting much needed funding away from the sector.”
Ourania Georgoutsakou, Managing Director at A4E added, “European airlines already collect multiple local, national and international taxes and pay for the environmental impact of flying, be it under the EU ETS or with the significant investments in new aircraft and sustainable aviation fuel.”
In a separate statement, ACI argued that in Europe, every 10% increase in air connectivity yields a 0.5% gain in GDP per capita, while also being associated with a 14% drop in poverty, 9% increase in quality education, 19% uptick in gender equality and an 8.5% gain in research & development.
ACI released research called ‘Taxation of International Air Transport and Airports’, which estimated the removal of the US$90 billion in taxes paid by aviation users would create 5.2 million jobs and US$180 billion in global GDP.
For its part, the GSLTF said “premium travel had seen a sharp rise in recent years with a 46% [rise] in emissions from private aviation between 2019-2023”.
