Calls to end tax-free aviation fuel as Heathrow’s third runway backed by the Chancellor 

29 January 2025

“If the Government is determined to expand airports, add hundreds of thousands of additional flights to the skies and increase carbon emissions by millions of tonnes each year, then it needs to start taxing the aviation industry fairly. Unlike in many other countries, aviation fuel in the UK is completely tax free, providing airlines with a multibillion-pound tax break. With airlines now set to cash in on future flights, it’s the perfect time for the aviation industry to start paying its fair share of fuel tax with the money raised invested in clean, sustainable public transport to ensure green growth.”

ENDS

For further information please contact the press office on 07984 773 468 (calls only no texts) or communications@bettertransport.org.uk.

Notes to Editors

1. A 2022 T&E report found that taxing kerosene on flights could raise £6.7 billion a year for the Treasury.
2. Campaign for Better Transport estimates suggest that taxing kerosene for just domestic flights at 33p per litre would raise £160 million a year. Reaching international bilateral agreements, e.g. with the EU to join a scheme for intra-EU flights, would raise much more.
3. Countries which already tax domestic aviation kerosene include Argentina, Australia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, DRC, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tchad, Thailand, Uganda, US, Venezuela and Vietnam.
4. Campaign for Better Transport included a call to tax domestic aviation fuel in its 2024 Budget Submission to the Treasury: https://bettertransport.org.uk/media/tax-private-jets-and-domestic-flights-and-use-2-4bn-to-reopen-railways-instead-says-transport-charity/
5. Heathrow’s current maximum annual number of flights is around 475,000. A third runway could enable it to reach around 740,000 flights a year.
6. New Economics Foundation research found that airport expansion would cancel out carbon savings of the Government’s Clean Power Plan (CPP).
7. Campaign for Better Transport operates in England and Wales. Campaign for Better Transport’s vision is for all communities to have access to high quality, sustainable transport that meets their needs, improves quality of life and protects the environment. Campaign for Better Transport Charitable Trust is a registered charity (1101929).