French environmental group, Reseau Action Climat, claims to have found a solution to the aviation industry’s excessive emissions – it proposes a frequent flyer tax.
The organisation said that the need to reduce air traffic is a “unanimous observation” in order to comply with emissions reduction targets set out in the Paris Agreement.
“The reduction of air traffic has been the subject of many proposals in the public debate, nine of which we have evaluated,” the organisation said.
The group used three criteria; the impact on the climate, the tax revenue generated and the distribution of responsibility among the various industry stakeholders.
The group says that frequent flyer programmes should work in reverse – the more you fly, the more you pay
“Among them, a specific measure meets all the criteria: the creation of a ‘frequent flyer tax’ which would work in contrast to loyalty systems,” the organisation said.
The more a passenger has flown, the more the price of a flight ticket will increase. “This measure would reduce the aviation sector’s emissions by 13,1%, while placing the bulk of the effort on the most-scheduled passengers and generating €2,5 billion (R48 million) in revenue,” the organisation said.
In the UK in September 2023, a climate activist group proposed a scheme to tax frequent flyers more, as reported in Travel News.