The true costs of flying

At the climate’s expense

Let’s take Switzerland as an example. Here international flights are exempt from fuel tax, whereas in the automotive sector there’s a tax on petrol. In addition, air travel is exempt from CO₂ tax and has no limits on emissions. Finally, air passengers don’t have to pay the value-added tax (VAT) that is applied to all other commercial transactions.

All this ensures that air fares are very low compared with other means of transport. You can, for example, fly from Basel to Berlin for only 31.20 francs, while a regular (undiscounted) second-class train ticket costs 178 francs.

Would surcharges on flying make train travel economically competitive? It would certainly be more ecological, for while the Basel to Berlin flight kicks out some 180 kg of CO₂, a train journey over the same stretch only emits around 20 kg.

Calculation for Basel to Berlin

Let's stick to the example of a single, economy class flight from Basel to Berlin (Schönefeld) for 31.20 francs. The flight covers a distance of 690 km. Assuming an average fuel consumption of 5.52 litres per person per 100 km, as estimated by the German aviation authority, that gives us a fuel consumption of approx. 38 litres per person. Based on the fuel tax on domestic flights of 0.74 Fr/l, a surcharge of 27.90 francs would then be added to the airfare.

For the CO₂ tax, we’ll use the values of the Federal Office for the Environment and the CO₂ Act as guidelines and apply 96 Fr/ton CO₂. The CO₂ emission of the flight in question can be estimated at 0.18 tons (see above), for all types of aircraft and load factors. The CO₂ surcharge is therefore 17.20 francs, which gives us a total airfare of 76.30 francs.

Then VAT at 7.7% would have to be applied to this amount – an additional 5.90 francs, bringing the total price to 82.20 francs. And so the “new” airfare would be 2.6 times higher than the original one.¹ If, say, a ticket charge were taken into account too, as is the case at some European airports, the factor would be even greater. So depending on the initial price, we could expect to pay a total of 2 to 7 times the current ticket price – and that’s a drastic increase!

Even then, this new fare is still only half as much as the price of a regular (undiscounted) train ticket. The price discrepancy has something to do with the differences in infrastructure costs between the two systems: the construction and maintenance of rail networks have a major impact on the price of train travel. However, market factors also appear to be important. While air travel is a highly competitive market, which is reflected in low prices for consumers, train travel is often more monopolistic, and ticket prices are correspondingly high.

Setting price signals

If we want to reduce flying, or at least prevent it from increasing, surcharges on air fares are certainly a step in the right direction. However, only recently the Environment Commission of the National Council spoke out against a CO₂ levy on airline tickets.

We can’t rely on the effectiveness of price signals alone; I’m convinced we also have to adopt a new approach to air travel. Do we really need to go to New York for Christmas shopping just because it’s so cheap? Anything that’s conducive to making consumers think long-term will help here.