Sweden abolished its air travel tax, effective 1st July 2025 to revitalize the country's struggling commercial aviation industry. This decision reverses the 2018 policy that aimed to curb carbon emission and reduce air travel through "flight shaming" and the country is now actively working to undo the impact of its aviation tax.
The tax, which varied based on distance, is being scapped to make flights more affordable and attract airlines back to Sweden.
Since its implementation, the number of air passengers has fallen by a third and several regional airports have closed.
The Swedish government has reversed course on one of its pioneering policies : levying a tax on commercial aviation. The Scandinavian country to this day around €60 per plane ticket and passenger, depending on the distance of the flight, a fee that was created six years ago.
At the time of its creation, it was experiencing a real environmental furore with the idea of publicly embarrassing those flew by plane, with Greta Thunberg, famous climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to mitigate the effects of climate change, as an an example of the situation generated.
The Swedish aviation tax was actually a success, if it was intended to reduce flights, because the number of passengers in the country fell by a third.
The original tax contributed to a decrease in air traffic, particularly affecting smaller, regional airports, some of them were close and train become more popular.
Now airlines are celebrating the policy change, with Ryanair waiting to launch a new flight plan in the Nordic country. The Irish company uses the Swedish example top criticize Denmark, where a similar tax has just been approved.
In any case, the big beneficiary of the abolition of the aviation climate tax is SAS, the region's most important airline, which applauds the decision without nuance that this will push it more than ever in its efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.
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