British Airways warns passengers flying out of UK 'it's a big issue'

British Airways has warned air fake hikes are on the cards as industry bosses warn net zero targets will drive up costs. Luis Gallego warns that the switch will "have a big impact" and effectively price some people out of flying.

Gallego told the Financial Times: “Flying is going to be more expensive. That is an issue, we are trying to improve efficiency to mitigate that, but it will have an impact on demand.” Mr Gallego said: “The reality is we do not have [enough] SAF, and the SAF we have is very expensive.”

Gallego told the Financial Times that switching to cleaner, more expensive sustainable fuel would “have a big impact” on the industry and put some people off flying. “We agree with decarbonisation . . . but I think we need to do it in a consistent way worldwide not to jeopardise European aviation,” Gallego said.

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Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is made from a range of non-fossil fuel sources, from waste cooking oil to crops, and can emit 70 per cent less carbon dioxide than traditional jet fuel. Last month, Lufthansa became one of the first airlines to announce a surcharge on tickets to fund cleaner fuels and decarbonisation.

Andrew Charlton, of the Aviation Advocacy consultancy, said Lufthansa Group’s move, the first by a European airline, was an “extremely aggressive” response to the introduction of the new rules by the European Commission.

“It’s hard to believe they haven’t done this with an eye to sending a message to the Commission,” Charlton said. The airline said: “The airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own."

And Lufthansa expects the gradually increasing SAF requirement to cost billions of euros in coming years, it said.