Virgin Atlantic will charge passengers a new environmental flight levy on flights departing from the UK, from January next year.
The fee aims to cover the costs of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The airline’s Chief Executive, Shai Weiss, confirmed the news to The Telegraph. Weiss said the airline would charge passengers up to £24 (R570) per flight. This amount, however, would only apply to flights departing from the UK.
Virgin Atlantic is gearing up to comply with the EU’s mandatory SAF blend quota, including a 2% SAF quota for departures from January, 2025. SAF is considerably more expensive than traditional fuel.
Weiss added that the green surcharge was a preferable way to deal with the problem, rather than simply increasing airfares. “If you do it, you need to do it transparently in the form of something consumers understand.”
The airline follows the example set by the Lufthansa Group. Lufthansa added the green surcharge to all flights departing from 27 EU countries as well as the UK, Norway and Switzerland in June, 2024.
