@thatjonn
In July, France approved an additional tax on aviation departures from the country, to be applied from 2020 with the money raised to be spent on cleaner methods of transport. The cost ( from €1.50 in shorthaul economy to €18 in longhaul business) was met with howls of despair from the aviation industry. The reaction seemed to me, even as an aviation journalist, to be badly misreading the room. If aviation had to pay for all of its impact on local and global environments, it would be a lot more expensive.
Extensive tax breaks, including paying no VAT on fuel, don’t help to make the industry’s point. Moreover, it isn’t helping passengers make informed decisions, and that itself means that airlines are failing to base their own set of decisions on consumer behaviour.
Flying is bad for the environment, and there’s a lot more to be done to make lower-emissions travel easier: making domestic connections to longhaul flights by rail instead of air, for example. There are too few easy, cost-efficient ways to do this, and airlines need to do better. But don’t despair: in addition to the radical changes that are needed, you can make a difference through some small adjustments.
PHOTOGRAPH: MIRAGEC/GETTY IMAGES