UK climate activist organisation Possible, proposes a whole new approach to frequent flyer programmes.
“Collectively, we all need to fly less and choose ways of travelling which are better for the climate. But some people are flying a lot more than the rest of us and causing most of the environmental damage. Did you know that just 15% of people who fly frequently take 70% of all UK flights?” says an article on its website wearepossible.org.
Pointing out that there is no distinction made between a passenger taking a once-in-a-lifetime flight and another one taking their tenth holiday abroad this year – everyone pays the same tax for the flight. Not fair, says Possible.
It proposes a frequent flyer levy, saying it’s the fairest way to tax flights and the most effective way to cut emissions.
It’s envisaged to function something like this. The yearly number of flights, or the air miles travelled by the traveller is taken into account. A traveller taking their fourth flight of the year would pay a higher tax on that flight than someone on the same flight who hasn't yet flown that year.
Possible believes additional tax taken from a frequent flyer levy could be used to create climate-friendly green jobs, and help former aviation workers into these roles. So, the frequent flyer levy would help to cut emissions in a fair way, with those who pollute the most making the biggest reductions in how much they fly, while supporting workers and creating the green jobs we need.
Possible says if the (UK) government tries to reduce flights by increasing taxes by the same amount for everyone, in its endeavour to achieve climate targets, that would make flying much more expensive for the majority of people who don’t fly very often, yet have little impact on the wealthier frequent flyers causing most of the problem.
“We need to act fast to slow down climate change, which means sensible policies to encourage sustainable lifestyles. Unfortunately, technological solutions to allow us to fly without emitting a lot of greenhouse gases won’t be available quickly enough to solve this problem. This means we need ways to encourage people to fly less often…” says Possible.
