The carbon tax has been charged to cruise passengers and commercial flights since July 2021, but until now, private jet travellers were exempt.

Now, according to the ordinance of the Ministry of Infrastructures, published this Friday in Diário da República, “carbon tax is charged on the consumer of air travel on commercial or non-commercial flights departing from airports and airfields located in Portuguese territory, in aircraft with a maximum passenger capacity of up to 19 seats”.

This measure stemmed from an initiative presented in Parliament by the PAN, as a proposal to amend the State Budget for 2023 (OE2023), and was welcomed by the Government.

Until October 2022, according to data reported by NAV to ANA, 18,838 movements of private jets were registered at national airports, 1,041 more flights compared to the 17,797 flights operated by private aircraft in 2021.

Among national airports, in 2022, Humberto Delgado – which is at the limit of operational capacity – recorded more than 2,600 jet movements, about 1.4% of the total number of flights that landed or took off from Lisbon airport.

Until November last year, 15 months after it came into force, revenue from the carbon tax on air travel, which airlines charge, amounted to around 42 million euros, according to data from the National Authority Civil Aviation (ANAC) which sent around 40.7 million to the Environmental Fund.