The fiscal threat hovers over the air sector

The government gets off the plane. The high CO2 emissions produced by the airline sector have clouded the vision it has of this industry. Not long ago the Executive praised the passenger traffic data recorded by AENA. Now, on the other hand, flying has become a thing of the rich. And the option of introducing a banknote tax has become a “reasonable” possibility.

In these terms, the Vice President and Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, spoke last week in an interview with Onda Cero. The head of the department said that she has initiated a “debate on environmental taxation” together with the Ministry of Finance to carry out an “overall vision” in this matter.

The warning is launched, and this time it seems that it will have a journey. Last term, the head of Economy, Nadia Calviño, refused to approve new taxes on the plane, an initiative that certain States have announced. But his warnings seem to fall on deaf ears in this legislature, marked by an ambitious environmental agenda… which is reflected in the fact that Ribera has been appointed vice president.

Sources close to the Executive assure that taxing flights “is a trend” in the European Union and that “the safest thing” is for the Government to go in this line. It only remains to determine the how, for which the work announced by the minister between Ecological Transition and Finance seems essential. This newspaper tried, without success, to ask the department led by Teresa Ribera about this matter.

The debate has already been held within the European Union. In November, nine countries (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden and Bulgaria) submitted a joint statement to the European Commission calling for the development of a civil aviation tax. The European Union itself has developed reports in which it raises the impact that the implementation of new taxes on airline fuel would have on the tourism sector. Spain, therefore, could wait for the measures that Brussels develops in this regard or apply a new tax to aviation itself.

Industry shakes

Until a couple of weeks ago, the possibility of the government approving this type of tax was viewed with skepticism in the airline sector. Especially since the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda reassured the industry in a meeting produced before the launch of the department. In this meeting, Minister José Luis Ábalos assured that it would be land transport that would have to face more emission reductions in the next legislature.

Now the context has changed. And the aviation sector tries to make the Administration see that it is reducing its emissions year after year and that it already makes a “significant economic effort” through systems such as emissions trading at the European Union level or the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Plan for International Aviation, which aims to halve net emissions by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.

That is why from the Association of Airlines (ALA) they consider that applying a green tax alone to aviation “would not be efficient in reducing emissions, it would have a damage to tourism, the economy and employment in Spain”. “Any solution that is adopted must be global, and at least at european level,” they point out from the airline organization.

These justifications do not seem to stop for the moment the plans of the Government, which sees rail transport with better eyes than air transport. A few weeks ago, the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, proposed banning the Air Bridge, which is operated by Iberia and Vueling and connects Barcelona with Madrid. The idea was later rejected by the secretary general of the PSC, Miquel Iceta. But Minister Ribera has not been so reluctant. He has not spoken of banning, but he has made reference to a “change of patterns”.

“We must provide quality alternatives at a reasonable price,” he said on Monday. That same day, Renfe put on sale the first tickets of its “low cost” AVE, Avlo, with a special offer to travel between Madrid and Barcelona for 5 euros. “The railway is called to be the most required means by citizens in the future due to its less polluting characteristics,” explained the president of the public company, Isaías Táboas, a few days earlier in Fitur. The government has gotten off the plane. To get on the train.

Source: ABC