Belgian tax on short-distance flights generates €40 million

The Belgian government introduced a flight tax of two to ten euros for short flights under 500 km two years ago, and that tax raised more than 40 million euros last year, according to the newspaper Le Soir.

Last year, more than 800 passenger flights by private jets were conducted over less than 500 kilometers. Flights by private jets have long been a thorn in the side of various environmental organizations because they are more polluting than commercial air travel, not covered by European emissions trading, and kerosine is still untaxed.

Tax from €2 to €10

To discourage short flights, on April 1st, 2022, the federal government introduced a boarding tax of ten euros for flights under 500 km, two euros for journeys over 500 km to destinations in the EU, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, and four euros for the furthest destinations.

The tax was expected to bring in 30 million euros in the first nine months, but it was limited to 21 million euros for 2022. FPS Finance reported that the target for 2023 – 40 million euros—was met, however.

In detail, 20.6 million euros came from routes of more than 500 km within Europe, 16.4 million euros from journeys of more than 500 km outside Europe, and 3.4 million euros from short flights of less than 500 km.

Lots of short-distance flights

According to Le Soir, the newspaper based itself on a database made available by the American company FlightRadar, there were also an average of 36 flights per day last year from one of the six Belgian airports to an airport less than 500 km away or vice versa.

This includes flights by so-called city hoppers, often to transfer to a neighboring airport, while more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as the train, are also available.

The newspaper also counted over 800 passenger flights with private jets of less than 100 km, for example, from Liège to Maastricht or Kortrijk to Ostend. In that case, these would often also be empty operational flights where an aircraft must be taken to another airport for a specific mission or technical maintenance.

Last year, European countries lost 34 billion euros in tax revenue because of exemptions for the flight industry. After all, the industry pays no excise tax on fuel, little to no ticket tax, and a small carbon tax that applies only to European flights. Moreover, companies can also deduct the cost of these private jet flights from their taxes.