Free train tickets and more realistic journey times as part of ‘Fewer Flights Charter’

6 July 2023

Publishing its ‘Fewer Flights Charter’ today (6 July), the transport charity has outlined a ten-point plan to reduce aviation’s impact on the environment and give travellers better information.

The Charter calls for realistic journey times which include airport processing time, and better information about carbon emissions so that travellers can make more informed choices when booking domestic flights. It also calls for free train tickets to encourage international passengers to ditch the car when travelling to the airport and reforms to aviation taxation to reduce the overall number of domestic and private flights.

Fewer Flights Charter

1. Require airlines to give passengers realistic travelling times for domestic flights
2. Require airlines to publish carbon emissions for domestic flights and the equivalent rail option
3. Require airlines to offer free rail tickets to the airport for passengers taking international flights
4. Introduce a domestic flight reduction target
5. Introduce a tax on domestic aviation fuel
6. Reverse the cut in Air Passenger Duty for domestic flights
7. Introduce a new rate of Air Passenger Duty for all private jet passengers
8. Apply VAT to every private jet flight
9. Penalise airlines for flying empty aircraft unnecessarily
10. Invest in more railway lines and stations and improve fares and ticketing

Norman Baker, from Campaign for Better Transport, said: “The Government’s strategy for achieving net zero aviation relies on technological advancements which are decades away when we need to cut carbon emissions now. The only way to do that for fewer flights to operate and our ten-point charter offers a way to immediately reduce the aviation sector’s impact on the climate whilst simultaneously boosting the rail market.”

Domestic and international aviation emissions have been steadily rising, growing by 124% between 1990 and 2019, making aviation the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Last week’s Climate Change Committee report highlighted the UK’s lack of progress in reducing carbon emissions from transport and in particular that new technologies alone are not enough to reach net zero by 2050.

With the aviation sector failing to address its impact on the climate in any meaningful way, Campaign for Better Transport is urging the Government and airlines to sign up to its Fewer Flights Charter to help give people greener, more sustainable transport options when travelling within the UK, and immediately start to reduce carbon emissions from flying without waiting for new technologies to take effect.

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

• Offering passengers free train tickets to and from the airport would reduce the number of car journeys and contribute to an overall reduction in emissions.
• In order for any reduction in domestic demand not to result in more overseas flights, there also need to be regulations in place that any slots freed up need to be taken out of operation, rather than reallocated to other flights.
• According to The Office for Budget Responsibility, the introduction of the new domestic rate of Air Passenger Duty (APD) on 1 April will cost £275m over the next four years and result in around 410,000 more passenger journeys a year (a 3.5% rise), with that increase split evenly between genuinely additional flights taken and those displacing journeys that would otherwise have been taken by car.
• On 1 April 2023, reforms to Air Passenger Duty introduced a new band for domestic flights, priced at half the previous rate, and an extra long-haul band.

*There are three rates of duty for each destination band depending on the class of travel: reduced rate for travel in the lowest class of travel available on the plane; standard rate for travel in any other class of travel; and a higher rate for travel in planes of 20 tonnes or more equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers.

• Air Passenger Duty (APD) is applied to passengers of private jets and small aircraft weighing 5.7 tonnes or more which depart from a UK airport. It is calculated per passenger and in bands, according to journey distance. Private jet passengers pay the standard rate, the same as business and first-class passengers. A further higher rate applies to aircraft of 20 tonnes or more and fewer than 19 passengers. The duty is paid by the aircraft operator and added to the charter price. Flights from the Scottish Highlands and Islands are not subject to APD, regardless of aircraft weight.
• Only a small number of domestic private flights have Value Added Tax (VAT) applied, generally those using small helicopters or propeller aircraft. Larger private aircraft and international flights are VAT exempt. In 2021, there were 135,505 private aircraft movements (arrivals and departures). If VAT was added to each movement, then revenue raised would be between £78,592,900 and £623,323,000 depending on aircraft sizes.
• The Climate Change Committee 2023 Progress Report to Parliament provides a comprehensive overview of the UK Government’s progress to date in reducing emissions. It recommended no net airport expansion to prevent unchecked increases in aviation emissions and, to help reduce emissions, ‘demand-mitigation measures to address price imbalances between aviation and low-emission forms of surface transport (e.g. rail travel). Taxes should send clearer signals to consumers on the high emissions cost of flying (e.g. by reversing the 2021 cut in Air Passenger Duty). Fair funding mechanisms should be used to ensure alternatives are affordable (e.g. invest in low-emission alternatives for journeys where domestic flights are faster/cheaper than surface transport).’
• UK aviation emission stats: Sixth Carbon Budget (page 7).
• European greenhouse gas emissions: European Parliament (2022), Emissions from planes and ships: facts and figures.
• Campaign for Better Transport was founded as Transport 2000 on 6 February 1973. 2023 marks its 50^th year of campaigning 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) which operates in England and Wales.