Flying from Belgian airports is becoming more expensive as the Federal Government has raised the aviation tax to €5 per passenger – something that airlines such as Ryanair are calling an "idiotic" decision.
The Federal 'Arizona' Government decided to revise its boarding tax on flights. The fee for flights up to 500 kilometres will remain at €10 per passenger, but the current fees for longer flights (€2 for flights within the European Economic Area and €4 for longer intercontinental flights) have been replaced with a single uniform fare of €5 per passenger.
In practice, this means that the tax will rise for the most popular holiday flights, to destinations such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Morocco, for example. The increased aviation tax came into effect on 29 July, following its publication in the Belgian Official Gazette.
Strikingly, the tax also applies to passengers who had already purchased their tickets before that date – hitting some passengers with unexpected costs.
"The tax will be included in the pricing of all tickets we sell from now on. But we will not be charging passengers retroactively for tickets sold," Nico Cardone, spokesperson for Brussels Airlines, told The Brussels Times.
'Busiest time of the year'
TUI Fly stated that it will not charge passengers retroactively either, explaining that they "simply cannot" issue and follow up on an additional invoice. "The administrative burden and anti-commercial attitude toward the customer are not worth it to us, so we will cover the costs."
However, neither of them is happy about it: both airlines are denouncing the fact that the law also applies to tickets already sold.
For Brussels Airlines and TUI Fly, the cost would be around €1 million each. "The fact that the law is being implemented now, during the busiest time of the year, makes it extra unfortunate."
Ryanair planes during a visit to several services at Brussels South Airport, in Charleroi. Credit: Belga/Christophe Licoppe
Due to international instability and the frequent national union actions against the Federal Government, Brussels Airlines said that the company's results are already under significant pressure. "Margins in aviation are low; last year, we had a profit margin of 3.8%. If someone buys a €100 ticket and suddenly has to pay an additional €3 in unaccounted-for tax, that eats away the entire profit."
The company is therefore urging the government to "only make decisions that impact tickets sold from the moment the rule takes effect, and not to impose retroactive taxes," Cardone said. "In other words, we hope the government can be a reliable partner."
'Idiotic'
Meanwhile, low-cost airline Ryanair called the Federal Government's decision "idiotic," but did say that they would apply the tax retroactively. When the tax was initially introduced in 2022, they did the same: after sending a message to the passenger, the amount was debited from their credit card.
A Ryanair spokesperson stressed that this tax will cause "significant damage" to Belgium’s connectivity, traffic, jobs, and economy by making the country "completely uncompetitive" compared to other EU Member States, such as Hungary, Sweden, and Italy – where governments are actively lowering or abolishing aviation taxes to stimulate traffic recovery and economic growth.
"Brussels is the 'heart of Europe' but needs affordable connectivity with the rest of Europe to survive," the spokesperson said. "We hope that the new government will realise the damage that this excessive aviation tax hike will cause to Belgium's connectivity, traffic, jobs, and economy, and immediately reverse this short-sighted decision."
