The government of the Netherlands intends to significantly increase the air passenger tax with effect from January 1, 2023. In the future, departing passengers should pay 28,58 euros. This does not apply to transfer passengers, which benefits top dog KLM.

Travelers boarding a commercial aircraft in the Netherlands currently have to shell out a tax of around eight euros. In the future, the state will collect a whopping 28,58 per departing passenger. The coalition agreement stipulates that the tax should be increased, but both airports and airlines are surprised at the extent.

In point-to-point traffic, everyone flying from the Netherlands will have to pay the increased tax from 1 January 2023. Arriving travelers and children under the age of two are not included and therefore do not have to pay. The exception of transfer passengers is also controversial. If, for example, you only change aircraft on a through flight ticket at Schiphol, you are exempt from the tax. This is of particular benefit to top dog KLM, which is very strong in the hub-and-spoke business.

The government of the Netherlands hopes that the tax increase will make air tickets artificially more expensive, especially for short-haul flights. One wants to persuade travelers to switch to the train. However, in many cases this is not an attractive alternative in terms of price or travel time.