As part of the summer agreement, the Belgian government, under the leadership of Bart De Wever (N-VA), has approved the renewal of the boarding tax on flights. This is what the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reports.
The agreement also confirms that the tax applies retroactively: even those who have already purchased their ticket may be required to pay the new tax, depending on the airline’s conditions of carriage.
Retroactive measure
The new government measure confirms what was known before: for flights of less than 500 km, the tax remains at €10 per passenger. But anyone flying further will soon pay €5 per passenger, replacing the current rate of €2 for flights within the European Economic Area and €4 for longer intercontinental flights.
As usual, the new law takes effect from its publication in the Bulletin of Acts, which typically occurs about ten days after the official coalition agreement is signed. As previously reported, the boarding tax, whose introduction was initially scheduled for July 1, works retroactively; in other words, even those who purchased a ticket last year will be subject to the increase.
No extra charge for BA and TUI passengers
Depending on the airline’s transportation conditions, the price difference may be passed on to the customer. Brussels Airlines and TUI Fly have already announced that they will not pass on the extra cost to customers, even though they may incur a loss of 1 million euros as a result.
At Ryanair, which more than doubled its profits last quarter to nearly 820 million euros due to, among other things, a 21% increase in ticket prices, you can choose between paying extra or canceling.
Germany wants to roll back the tax
The tax, introduced primarily to raise awareness of the environmental impact of short flights, also exists in several EU countries. In France, for example, the ticket price was recently raised from €2.63 and €7.51 (business) to €7.40 and €15 to €40, respectively, depending on the destination and class.
The German government, however, wants to roll back the tax. Airlines, in particular, have criticized the measure, which they view as hindering their competitiveness. According to the newspaper Bild, the issue would be on the agenda of the 2026 budget talks.
The Scholz government introduced the German air passenger tax in May 2024. The tax was then increased to €15.53 for a short-haul flight (€12.73 previously), €39.34 for a medium-haul flight, and €70.83 (from €58.06) for a long-haul flight. The tax generated 1,9 billion euros in revenue for the German state that year.
