Lufthansa Group has become the first major European airline group to pass on to travellers, at least partially, the cost of transition to Sustainable Aviation Fuel, by adding an environmental cost surcharge of up to EUR 72. The additional cost will be applicable on travel from January 1, 2025 and on tickets issued from June 26.

Passengers flying on Lufthansa flights departing from 30 European countries from January 1, 2025 onwards will have to pay an additional charge, ranging from EUR 1-72, as part of the airline’s transition to the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel.

In a press statement, the German flag carrier says that the ‘Environmental Cost Surcharge’ applies to departures of all airlines that are part of Lufthansa Group, including Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Discover Air, from the 27 European Union countries as well as the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland and it applies to all tickets issued from today with departure from January 1, 2025.

“The surcharge is intended to cover part of the steadily rising additional costs due to regulatory environmental requirements. These include the statutory blending quota of initially two percent for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for departures from European Union (EU) countries from January 1, 2025, adjustments to the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as well as other regulatory environmental costs such as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA),’’ says the airline in the statement.

It adds that the ‘Environmental Cost Surcharge’ varies depending on the flight route and fare and is shown on the Lufthansa Group Airlines booking pages in the price details.

The airline group claims that it invests billions in new technologies every year and works together with partners on innovations that help to make flying more sustainable step by step and drive the scaling of key technologies beyond the Lufthansa Group. In addition, the Lufthansa Group has actively supported global climate and weather research for many years. 

“However, the airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own. Part of these expected costs for the year 2025 are now to be covered by the new ‘Environmental Cost Surcharge’,’’ it adds.

The airline, which is the largest European aviation group and  Lufthansa Group has set itself ambitious climate protection targets and is aiming for a neutral CO₂ balance by 2050. By 2030, the aviation group aims to halve its net CO₂ emissions compared to 2019 through reduction and compensation measures. For effective climate protection, the Lufthansa Group is focussing in particular on accelerated fleet modernisation, the continuous optimisation of flight operations, the use of SAF and offers for private travelers and corporate customers to make air travel or the transport of freight more sustainable.

The airline group adds in the statement that as part of its ‘Fit for 55’ climate protection programme, the EU has decided on mandatory SAF blending quotas that will increase over the years up to 2050. The SAF quota is to be 2 pc from 2025, 6 pc from 2030, 20 pc from 2035 and 70 pc from 2050.