Dear SBAA members
In the current climate debates, aviation is wrongly blamed as one of the main causes of global warming. Recently, the Council of States adopted a motion by the National Councillor Thomas Minder (SH) with 18 votes pro to 16 against and 6 abstentions. The proposal stipulates that every departure from a Swiss airport for all business and private aircraft as well as for helicopters will be charged with CHF 500 for climate compensation. This would enormously weaken Switzerland’s competitiveness and would not even have a benefit on the climate. Swiss General Aviation would be threatened in its very existence, just think of training flights, sightseeing flights, helicopter flights, etc. The Minder motion will now be referred to the National Council, who will continue to work on the matter and hopefully lead to its rejection.
SBAA is clearly opposed to this planned levy and will defend itself against it with all means at its disposal.
The aviation industry will be subject to European certificate trading as of 2020 and with Corsia it has even become the first industry ever to reach a global agreement to which all ICAO states have committed themselves. Climate protection is not only a Swiss problem, it must be tackled worldwide.
With kinds regards