The UK has a legally-binding target of net zero by 2050.
In order to reach it, emissions from aviation need to fall.
At Flight Free UK we focus on individual behaviour change, but that must go hand in hand with effective government policy if we are to achieve the necessary emissions reductions.
Here are our top policies for a UK government to adopt, to help get a grip on emissions from aviation.
1. No airport expansion
Across the UK, 20 airports have expansion plans. Every application makes the claim that it will fit within our emissions reduction goals, even though together, the accumulated plans would result in a 59% increase in passenger numbers, contributing a further 9 mega-tonnes of CO2 annually into the atmosphere.
Airports claim that they can grow in an environmentally-friendly way, by pointing towards carbon-neutral ground operations, improvements in fuel efficiency, and more people taking the train to the airport.
Emissions from flights themselves are usually not included when an airport claims to be carbon neutral.
In 2019, the government’s advisors on climate change, the Climate Change Committee, stated that there should be no net expansion across the UK if we are to meet our climate targets. The government should take this advice and adopt a national policy to halt all airport expansion.
2. Tax aviation fuel
Currently, there is no tax on kerosene (aviation fuel), meaning that flights are often artificially cheap especially when compared to overland transport such as trains.
The government could immediately introduce a tax on fuel for domestic flights, and it makes sense to do so: the fuel we use in our cars is taxed at 50%, so there is no reason that aviation fuel should continue to be tax-free.
Taxing aviation fuel would help level the playing field with alternative forms of transport, and it’s estimated that it would cut both passenger numbers and emissions by 11%.
3. Frequent flyer tax
A small number of people take the majority of flights: 70% of flights in the UK are taken by just 15% of the population. Introducing a frequent flyer levy would both incentivise people to fly less as well as ensuring that the polluter pays.
4. Carbon labelling at time of booking
We are given information that helps us make choices that are right for us, for example health information on food items, and health warnings on cigarette packets.
If we were given carbon information when we booked our flights, it would help us to make a more informed choice.
Some flight booking sites already show the carbon impact of your flights, but only by comparing one flight to another, and showing which is the most fuel efficient or has the lowest overall footprint. The danger here is that suggests that any of the flights are green – which they are not.
A more effective and helpful way to show flight emissions would be to compare them to other transport modes such as trains, which have a much lower carbon footprint, or compare them to other activities we do, such as heating our homes or driving, or to UK annual per-person emissions. This would give a much more realistic and easy-to-understand picture of flight emissions, which would help us to make more planet-friendly choices.
5. A ban on advertising for flights
When it became clear that smoking was a Public Health issue, the government banned the advertising of tobacco products.
Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are an equal, if not worse, Public Health issue. A ban on advertising for airlines would contribute to the social shift away from aviation.
6. Remove domestic flights where there’s a direct train alternative
This policy was introduced in France in 2023, which removed air routes that had a rail alternative of 2.5 hours or less. The policy applies to three routes: from Paris to Nantes, Lyon and Bordeaux.
The advantage of such a policy is that it removes customer choice, and makes low-carbon travel the only option. Studies have shown that replacing air with rail on direct routes doesn’t have a negative impact on the traveller in terms of time or cost.
If the UK did the same, it would go a long way to reducing emissions. Switching from plane to train on electrified routes in the UK saves around 90% on emissions, and there’s not much difference in overall journey time once you’ve factored in transfers to the airport and waiting time for check-in etc. It should therefore be possible to maintain good domestic connectivity while removing the high-carbon option.
Our recommendation is to remove flight routes where there’s a direct train alternative of 4.5 hours or less. This would include routes between London and Exeter/Manchester/Newcastle/Edinburgh/Glasgow, and Birmingham and Edinburgh/Glasgow.
7. Ban private jets
Private jets cause up to 40x the emissions of scheduled flights per passenger. It is a very privileged and extremely carbon-intensive way to travel, that is most of the time not necessary.
We would therefore like to see the government ban private jets, or at the very least, tax the fuel and increase APD on private jets.
8. Significant investment in low-carbon transport
There are many barriers to people choosing low-carbon transport, and these need to be removed in order to facilitate the shift away from air travel. These include:
- bringing the railways back into public ownership to ensure that profits go towards improving the service rather than to shareholders
- cheaper, more consistent fares, for example removing excessive walk-on fares and keeping standard fares lower
- publishing timetables much further in advance so travellers can plan ahead and book travel earlier than the current 12 weeks
- joined-up services, for example between trains and ferries
- investing in booking platforms that simplify the booking process for multiple transport modes
- upgrade lines and rolling stock to improve reliability and speed of domestic train travel
- open up the channel tunnel to night trains, and allow competition with Eurostar to facilitate cheaper UK-EU travel
