Lufthansa Group Introduces Environmental Cost Surcharge

The Lufthansa Group is introducing an Environmental Cost Surcharge. 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).

The Environmental Cost Surcharge applies to all flights sold and operated by the Lufthansa Group departing from the 27 EU countries as well as the UK, Norway and Switzerland. The amount of the surcharge varies depending on the flight route and fare and is between 1 euro and 72 euros.

The Environmental Cost Surcharge will be levied on all tickets issued from June 26, 2024 and applies to departures from January 1, 2025. The exact amount of the Environmental Cost Surcharge is shown on the Lufthansa Group Airlines booking pages in the price details.

The Lufthansa Group 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.

The 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 focusing in particular on accelerated fleet modernization, the continuous optimization 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.