Flight prices from Germany to foreign destinations will see a price increase from May of this year.
This is because the German government has decided to no longer apply the same aviation tax for passengers taking outbound flights from one of its airports by increasing it.
As I Am Expat Germany explains, the tax increase is part of the country’s initiative to address the €17 billion deficit that surfaced in the budget for this year.
The same notes that the deficit arose following the German constitutional court’s decision to deem the initial budget plan unlawful due to improper reallocation of unused COVID funds to the climate transformation fund.
Despite the tax increase not being welcomed by Germany’s aviation industry, the cabinet has already approved it, and now the law is expected to be approved by the Bundestag in the following months.
The German Federal Ministry of Finance revealed that as soon as the new law gets implemented, the tax for those flying from Germany to other EU Member States, EU candidates, EFTA countries, and third countries with a 2,500 km distance will be €15,53 instead of the current €12,73.
In addition, the aviation tax for destinations with a distance of more than 6,000 km will be increased from the current €58,06 to €70,83.
This means that passengers will soon be subject to more expensive ticket prices as the taxes will be passed on to them.
However, not everyone is included in the scheme. As the German Federal Ministry of Finance notes, children under the age of two who have not been assigned a seat are exempt from the tax. Moreover, flights for military or medical purposes are exempt from the aviation tax.
Germany has some of the most crowded airports in Europe, with millions of passengers arriving and departing from them each year.
Just recently, SchengenVisaInfo reported that Berlin Airport saw a total of 23.07 million passengers in 2023.
Such a high number of passengers throughout the 12 months of 2023 represents a 16 per cent increase compared to 2022, when the airport recorded 3.22 million fewer passengers.
The airport also registered a high number of passengers in the last months of the year, especially December, as more people were travelling for the winter holidays. Data show that Berling Airport saw around 1.75 million passengers in November 2023 and around 1.77 passengers in December 2023.
