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German CDU Head Suggests Flight Tax Could Help Climate Push

German CDU Head Suggests Flight Tax Could Help Climate Push

(Bloomberg) -- The head of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats suggested a levy on flights could be introduced to encourage travelers to use less polluting means of transport and help tackle climate change.

Rail travel must be made cheaper, possibly by cutting sales tax on train tickets, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, said in a Sunday evening interview with ARD television.

Kramp-Karrenbauer said action could be taken to stop airlines from charging fares that didn’t reflect government levies, referring to the industry’s rates as “price dumping.” A levy on flights would be “one way” to address the trend of extremely cheap tickets, she added.

Airline bosses have sought to defend their business against a rising tide of criticism over aircraft emissions. The heads of carriers including Emirates, JetBlue Airways Corp. and EasyJet Plc, speaking at the World Aviation Festival in London last week, warned that reducing carbon emissions would take years, if not decades, given the limitations of technology and expansion of air travel.

To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Chris Reiter

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