To those who are planning to travel to Europe beware of the additional charges being added to your plane tickets. Transfer America reports that three airlines, United-Continental, US Airways, and Delta, are adding a surcharge to any flights headed towards Europe. An article on USA Today, explains that the European Union has started charging airlines carbon emission fees.
When asked to comment, all three airlines refused to discuss the surcharge. But analysts have discovered that the airlines plan to charge their consumers the fee from the European Union. This new law will cost the U.S. airline industry an estimated amount of $3.1 billion in the next eight years. This surcharge is being added on top of another surcharge for higher fuel costs.
The director of Consumer Travel Alliance, Charles Leocha, stated, “This is a new fee, so it’s going to go straight to the bottom line, and that means consumers will be paying. This is one more fee on top of all the other ones, so it adds up.”
Many industries have already had to pay for carbon emissions but this is the first time that this program included airlines. The way this program works is the airlines have a cap on carbon-dioxide emissions. Through the year, each airline is only given 85% of that cap for free. If the airline goes beyond that cap they are required to purchase an allowance from other industries. Those who do not abide by the rules will be fined up to $130 per ton of carbon emission as well as the potential of being banned from European airspaces.
These extra fees will most likely be passed down consumers who are purchasing the plane tickets to Europe. Many companies are already seeking out different ways to lower/reduce the carbon emission for their planes.
