Levies on frequent flyers and restrictions on private jets would have majority public support in Europe’s major travel markets, consumer research suggests.
A pan-European survey of more than 12,000 adults in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium found half the respondents (53%) thought passengers on private jets should pay more to fly and two out of five (43%) would support an outright ban on private jets, with only 15% opposed.
The same proportion (53%) agreed the cost of decarbonising aviation “should be paid for by taxing jet fuel or raising ticket prices”.
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Polling group More in Common, which conducted the research, noted that in focus groups, “any suggestion that the government would pay to decarbonise flying was dismissed”.
Half the respondents in Europe’s two biggest aviation markets, the UK (51%) and Germany (52%), considered a levy on frequent flyers a “fair policy”, with 17% in the UK considering it “very fair”. One in five (21%) in the UK and 13% in Germany thought such a levy “unfair”.
Those who fly frequently were most opposed, with 31% rating a levy “unfair”.
Yet almost half of frequent flyers – defined as flying five or more times a year – rated a levy “fair”, compared with 51% of all respondents.
Those who fly in first or business class were most opposed to restrictions or taxes on flying.
However, a third (36%) of respondents thought business class passengers should pay more, one in four said frequent flyers (26%) and long-haul passengers (24%) should pay more to fly, with one in five (21%) agreeing all air passengers should pay more.
Half the UK respondents (49%) thought the focus should be “on those who fly the most”.
The survey found two-thirds of respondents “worried” or “very worried” about climate change but that this “only weakly correlated with flying behaviour”, with “cost a much more serious barrier to flying than environmental concerns” for most people.
Half the respondents said they would fly more if money and time allowed. Yet more than two out of five respondents (44%) thought airlines should do more to reduce their environmental impact.
The researchers concluded a frequent-flyer levy “is seen as both popular and effective”. However, a cap on flying would be “unpopular”.
- The survey, by research firm More in Common, was published in April. The report can be read in full here.