Lufthansa threatens to leave EU

Published: 19/02/07

A spokesman for German airline Lufthansa has revealed that plans to include flights within the EU carbon trading scheme are likely to force the carrier to move many of its operations outside the EU if it wants to remain competitive in the future.

Taxes on aircraft emissions are likely to increase by around USD20 per sector for long haul flights originating within the EU, and around USD10 for short haul. This means that a passenger flying from London via Frankfurt to Dubai will rack up USD40 in charges on top of the ticket price. Whereas flights to Dubai with Emirates, which is based outside the EU will only pay the charge on a single sector, meaning that they will be cheaper at USD20.

The spokesman for Lufthansa claimed that in order to remain competitive, certain areas of the business might need to relocate, and he suggested that Zurich, which is outside the EU in Switzerland might be the ideal place to become their major hub rather than Frankfurt or Munich.

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