Brits flying out of the UK to go on holiday will now face an 'environmental charge' of up to €72 (£61) when travelling with a major airline. Lufthansa has announced that they are now implementing an 'Environmental Cost Surcharge' on all tickets issued from June 26 2024, with departure dates from January 1 2025 onwards. Individuals travelling out of 27 European Union countries as well as the UK, Norway and Switzerland will need to pay the environmental surcharge intended to cover part of rising costs due to regulatory environmental requirements.
The amount each traveller will be charged will differ depending on the flight route they are taking, with some charges being as low as €1 (£0.85) and the highest charge being €72 (£61). The exact charge will be shown when booking, on the Lufthansa booking pages in the price details.
The environmental surcharge will affect Brits travelling to all major holiday hotspots including Majorca and Ibiza in Spain, Paris in France and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The additional charge will also apply to all airlines in the Lufthansa Group including Lufthansa Airlines and Austrian Airlines. Reuters reported that British carrier easyJet said it wasn't planning to follow Lufthansa's footsteps.
"We don't apply legacy carrier surcharges and have no plans to do so," an easyJet spokesperson told Reuters. Another budget airline, Wizz Air , told Reuters that they would avoid additional surcharges "in order to avoid burdening passengers with hig.
