Everyone has the right to fly charters in the summer

by bernt & torsten

Now it’s time to start planning for your vacation. Many people probably long for the beach. Maybe you’re thinking of going south yourself.

Everyone knows by now that you should not really take the flight. Had the aviation industry been a country, it would have been the world’s seventh-largest emitter.

But travelling by train is expensive and above all, it takes a long time. It is no wonder that many choose the flight on holiday.

The small group flies a lot

It should not be something to be ashamed of. It should even be cheaper. At least for those who only fly once a year, maybe on a charter trip to some hot country in Southern Europe.

A very small part of the population accounts for a very large part of aviation emissions. These are not ordinary holidaymakers. It is the very richest, the upper class and the business elite, who commute by air or have a habit of taking a weekend in some skinny capital after a tough work week.

In the United States, 12 percent of the population makes up two-thirds of all air travel. In the UK, 15 percent account for 70 percent of travel. The same pattern can be seen all over the world.

Billionaires are hardly ashamed

That is not remedied with any climate anxiety. Shame is the opposite of a very bad political tool. Those who should be most ashamed usually do not do it at all.

Are billionaires ashamed when they lean back in their private jet? Do you think that the boss feels bad at the thought of all the trips to the holiday villa in Tuscany?

Probably not.

Tax the big pilots

Fortunately, it is possible to make them feel bad in other ways. For example, by introducing a progressive aviation tax. With such a system, travellers would be taxed differently based on how often they fly.

A proposal to give each person a tax-free round trip by air per year. After this, they gradually become more expensive. In this way, you get access to the aviation industry and the real climate culprits, without punishing ordinary people who fly at some point in the year.

Without a class perspective, flying becomes a matter of individual morality rather than structures and economics. But ordinary people’s anxiety is not the solution to the climate crisis.