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What’s good for the environment isn’t always necessarily good for the pocket, and the pandemic and the current economic crisis have changed the rules of the game in the aviation sector. Gone are the days of cut-price flights and budget holidays, it seems, as the world turns its focus to sustainable travel and slowing climate change.

 

This week the European Council and Parliament agreed to tougher regulations on CO2 emissions for both the air and maritime transport sectors. The upshot is that flights between Spanish and other European cities will likely increase by around 5.5% next year.

 

The restrictions were always coming down the line in keeping with environmental requirements set out in the EU’s Green Pact, but the impact may be more than originally anticipated. According to a recent Air Monitor 2023 report, while travel increases will be generalised throughout the world, prices will rise the most in Europe.

 

There’s worse news for Spain, where Iberia controls the domestic market, as ticket costs are likely to skyrocket by as much as 10.5%.

 

Airlines themselves are already feeling the pinch and carriers like Ryanair previously warned that budget travel is a thing of the past, largely due to the fact that jet fuel has increased by between 25% and 35% in recent months. The airlines certainly aren’t immune to inflation, and most have also been put under pressure by strike action to raise wages.

 

Now, with the aim of complying with the "polluter pays" principle, the sector will have to face an increase in the fees paid by airlines for creating emissions while they fly through the skies. The overall goal is for carriers to reduce their emissions by 55% before 2030 and to achieve this, the European bodies have approved eliminating free emission rights for commercial flights in 2026.

 

All this will make their prices inevitably more expensive.

 

 

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