Conservative politician Bård Ludvig Thorheim wants to cut taxes on air passengers on planes in Northern Norway – NRK

Conservative politician Bård Ludvig Thorheim has come up with a proposal that may sound better in northern Norway than in the south.

He wants to reduce the air passenger fare on the short-haul network and delayed routes to and from Northern Norway.

It will send the invoice to the south.

– People from Søring can pay a little more, and then Northerners who have no alternative to flights can ditch the air passenger tax, he tells Bladet Vesterålen, who mentioned the case first.

He believes the loss of toll revenue for the state should be covered by increasing air passenger tolls on the busiest routes.

– We count thousands of crowns on flights in Northern Norway. On the busiest routes to the south, there is only a hundred dollars, he tells NRK.

Thorheim believes that climate and air passenger taxes have turned out to be completely wrong for northern Norway.

– You prefer to look at the routes that really have an ecological alternative. For example, between Oslo-Bergen or Oslo-Kristiansand, you can take the train.

It is not just the price level that people react to. In some places, the plane rarely travels and it often takes a long time to travel to where it is going:

It will make northern Norway more attractive to competition

The conservative politician believes that the benefits are twofold.

On the one hand, he believes that the abolition of the airline seat tax could result in cheaper airline tickets.

In addition, he believes that it will be more attractive for other companies to compete for commercial and subsidized air routes (FOT).

– It is probably not enough to reduce the tax on air passengers, but it is a good step towards competing companies who want to see Northern Norway as a relevant region.

Widerøe: – Not enough

Silje Brandvoll, Communications Director at Widerøe, believes the big challenge is the overall tax level, but welcomes the proposal.

– We agree that rates should be differentiated to a greater extent. We are positive about all the proposals that go in that direction. However, we have probably come to the conclusion that a cut in air passenger fares is enough to save short-haul trade routes.

Brandvoll emphasizes that this is not a development that Widerøe wants, but that it may eventually be necessary to recommend that unprofitable short-range routes be covered by FOT.

– We prefer framework conditions that allow us to commercially develop these routes, but this is not possible under current conditions.

She emphasizes that a cut in the air passenger fare would primarily have an effect on short-haul commercial routes, while most of the short-haul routes in the north are tender routes where the maximum price is set by the state.

– Is it too expensive to fly today?

– Yes. We would like to see flying cheaper. It is also a political decision. The maximum price set is politically controlled.

Unsure of the effect

Frode Steen is Professor of Economics at the Norwegian School of Management (NHH). He doesn’t think the conservative politician’s proposal will necessarily result in lower ticket prices.

– The flight seat fee is not a very high fee. What’s much greater traction is keeping two players on the road, he says.

In the same way that the seat fee was not imposed on krone per krone passengers, he believes that it is difficult to imagine that ticket prices are consequently cheaper.

– What makes the prices go down from north to south turns out to be over and over again if you have two companies on the routes.

– Do you think this proposal will result in lower airfares for travelers?

– I think it’s uncertain. It is not given how much of the tax relief will accrue for passengers, it quickly becomes a political nut.