The International Air Transport Association (Iata) warns in its Annual Review 2023 that European governments and airport authorities are pushing up the costs of aviation through environmental levies and taxes.The report singles out European governments for “contemplating placing additional financial burdens on aviation in the name of the environment that will undermine the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (Corsia) and reduce the industry’s financial capacity to invest in sustainability efforts”.Calling for price regulation of the landside structures, Iata estimates that European airports and air service navigation providers (ANSPs) added €1.9 billion to the 2022 airline cost base through tariff increases.“Despite this, delays were three times more than expected and both capacity and environmental targets were missed,” the report states.It cites Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, which has been increasing charges since 2022.“Considering the poor performance of the airport in 2022, the 12% increase scheduled for that year deserves careful scrutiny,” it states.This year, Schiphol raised its airport charges by 14.8%, in order to recover 2022 losses. Airlines f lying into Europe may also be hit by the EU Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), a proposal to introduce and gradually increase a jet fuel tax over a period of 10 years. Despite these challenges, Statista predicts that the European airfreight market is expected to be worth around $42.9bn by 2027.In June, Iata reported that intra-European air cargo volumes had experienced six months of growth in the first half of 2024 – second to the Middle East-Asia routes.In contrast, African and North American airlines had the lowest annual growth, at 11.7% each.
