Europe’s greenest, cleanest airline, Ryanair today (15 May) condemned the Dutch Government’s proposed National Aviation Tax, due to be introduced in 2021. This proposed tax will reward environmentally damaging, connecting flights – because it exempts transfer passengers at Schiphol’s hub airport (which is clearly designed as a further state aid to KLM), – while imposing the tax on more environmentally efficient direct flights taken by Dutch consumers and visitors travelling to and from the Netherlands.

Connecting passengers at Schiphol who make no contribution to the Dutch economy, should be paying the cost of their damaging environmental footprint. Ryanair’s passengers have the lowest carbon footprint (CO2 per passenger km) of any airline operating to and from the Netherlands and Ryanair is investing in quieter, more fuel-efficient new aircraft – while KLM continues to operate older, half empty, less fuel-efficient aircraft. This tax rewards KLM’s environmental inefficiency, yet penalises Dutch passengers choosing Ryanair, Europe’s greenest cleanest airline.

Ryanair passengers already contribute to the environment by choosing to fly with Europe’s greenest, cleanest airline, they pay environmental taxes through both the EU’s ETS fees and excessive Government taxes, and now they are to be penalised again by this Dutch Government tax, which will exempt KLM’s environmentally inefficient transfer passengers (who take two flights to reach their destination rather than one environmentally efficient direct flight).

Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs said:

“This Dutch Aviation Tax has nothing to do with the environment, it’s just another state subsidy to KLM. If the Dutch Government are serious about the environment then it should apply environmental taxes to the biggest polluter which is those passengers taking 2 connecting flights at Schiphol on older aircraft, and instead levy lower taxes on environmentally efficient airlines carrying passengers on direct flights on newer aircraft to/from the Netherlands”.