Heathrow expansion plans could force Brits taking two holidays a year to pay new flight charges
People taking more than one flight a year could face additional charges under options put forward in a report presented to the government.
The report on the Heathrow Airport expansion explored options around the airport's expansion and balancing this with commitments to green policies, and highlighted some of the data relating to how people in the UK fly.
At present the idea of additional charges has not been announced as a tax and is not confirmed government policy, but was put forward as an option in this report.
One section of the report, which was put forward to the government by the Climate Change Committee on 16 September, examined the habits of British people when it comes to flying, including that the majority of passengers are made up of a relatively small number of frequent flyers.
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This looked at figures from 2024, including that 48 percent of England's population did not fly abroad at all that year.
The data regarding frequent flyers appears to give a clear picture, with 80 percent of flights abroad taken by passengers who took two or more international flights that year, who made up just 28 percent of people.
Meanwhile 33 percent of international flights, around one third, were taken by the top 5 percent of most frequent flyers, those who went on five or more international flights in 2024.
There was also the households who were taking more flights, with those in the highest fifth of income taking 38 percent of overseas flights.
In short, this points to a smaller group of people who take up a lot of the international flights, with the report saying: "Flying has become more widespread in the population. More people fly each year and the average number of flights abroad per person in England has increased since 2011.
"However, most of the increase in the number of flights taken has been driven by repeat and frequent flyers."
The option for an additional charge could come in the shape of a frequent flyer levy - essentially the more often someone flies the more they could be required to pay.
Members of the public sat on a panel reviewing these options, and supported this idea, while also saying that they supported exempting the first flight that someone takes in a year, so an annual holiday would not be affected, for example, as well as exempting children from this.
The suggestion is that passengers who take any subsequent flights after the first one would then have to pay the additional fee, under the proposals.
Cost examples are also given in the report, suggesting that a return to Alicante would cost around £150 per passenger, meaning £600 for a family of four, while New York would be £400 per person by 2050.
The options submitted by the Climate Change Committee are part of efforts to lower emissions produced by aviation and promote cleaner fuels to protect the environment, which are expected to increase costs.
As a result, the proposals for a frequent flyer levy would be aimed at protecting people who fly less often from being affected by these costs when they do not contribute as much to aviation emissions.
At present however these are just proposals, and would need to be formally adopted by the government in order for any potential frequent flyer levy or exemption to come into effect.
Kit Roberts