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The German government - made up of Chancellor
Angela Merkel's conservatives, their Bavarian sister party CSU
and the Social Democrats (SPD) - is expected to present a
far-reaching package of climate protection measures on Sept. 20.
The tax for domestic flights is now 7.40 euros ($8.21).
"We want to double this ticket tax for all domestic flights and
triple it for short-haul domestic flights under 400 kilometers,"
said a party document that the board of Merkel's Christian
Democrats (CDU) is due to review on Monday.
The document, called "Climate-friendly Germany - using
innovations as we head into the future", showed that the party
also wants to make long-distance rail travel cheaper by reducing
the value-added tax on train tickets.
A spokeswoman for Germany's flagship airline, Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>,
said on Friday that air transport faced more international
competition than other transport and such national measures
could result in traffic shifting to regions where levies are
smaller or non-existent.
"Such a high burden for domestic flights disproportionately
affects German airlines and deprives them of money for modern
airplanes and climate-friendly technologies," the spokeswoman
said of the CDU proposal.
She added that domestic flights only accounted for 0.3% of
Germany's overall carbon dioxide emissions and it was
questionable whether such measures would have any tangible
ecological impact.
The document also said a premium worth several thousand euros
should be introduced to encourage people to scrap old,
inefficient heating systems so that climate targets for
buildings can be achieved.
(Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach in Frankfurt, writing
by Michelle Martin; editing by Paul Carrel, Larry King)
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