Departures from Dutch airports will become a lot more expensive next year with the news that the existing Dutch Air Passengers Tax will more than triple to EUR28.58 euros (USD29) on January 1, 2023, according to a report by De Telegraaf.

Citing insider information, De Telegraaf, the largest Dutch daily newspaper, reports the hike results from environmental commitments the Dutch governing parties made in their coalition agreement.

No official announcement has been made. The official departure tax for 2022 is EUR7.947 (USD8.04) per passenger per flight, according to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration website.

The tax applies to departures from the following airports: Amsterdam Schiphol; Eindhoven; Groningen; Lelystad; Maastricht; Rotterdam; and Enschede. Transfer passengers are exempt from the levy, first introduced on January 1, 2021.

Other passenger charges in The Netherlands include the Passenger Service Charge, which also increases from EUR17.37 (USD17.68) to EUR20.62 (USD20.99) per departing passenger from April 1, 2023. The Passenger Security Service Charge increases from EUR13.23 (USD13.46) to EUR15.12 (USD15.39) from April 1, 2023, according to Schiphol Airport. Together that makes an additional EUR64.32 (USD65.58) per ticket, compared to EUR38.78 (USD39.47) at present, a EUR25.54 (USD26) increase.

The 2021-2025 coalition agreement between the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA), Democrats ’66 (D66), and Christian Union (CU) prioritises combating climate change. In civil aviation, it promises to increase flight taxes and use part of the revenue to make aviation more sustainable and reduce its environmental impact.

Asked to comment, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) told ch-aviation the airline shared The Netherlands' ambition to be a leader in the sustainable aviation sector and supported measures that effectively helped to make the aviation sector more sustainable.

"KLM, along with the partners of the sustainable aviation table, believe it is very important that a substantial part of the money raised by the increase in the flight tax goes to more sustainable aviation. Otherwise, an air passenger tax will not help the environment," an airline spokesperson said.