We thought it was time to revisit our analysis to see if the situation has changed. In our original article Q. How Many Airports Have Emissions-Based Charges? we reported that as of the end of October 2022, just 43 airports had emissions-based charges for aircraft and that all these airports were in Western Europe.
At the end of June 2025, 66 airports now have some form of emissions-based charges which is a 53% increase upon October 2022 levels.
As can be seen from Map 1 - whilst most of these airports are still in Western Europe, there has been some adoption of emission-based charging by airports in Eastern Europe and Caribbean. Map 2 zooms in to show Europe only.
Map 1: Airports with Emissions-Based Charges
Map 2: European Airports with Emissions-Based Charges
Chart 1 shows of the 66 airports with emissions-based charges, we can see that NOx output is by far the most common used by airports for charging, with 51 airports (77%) doing so. CO2 is the next most common output used with 10 airports (15%) followed by 5 airports (8%) who charge based upon NOx and CO2 output.
Chart 1: Emissions-based Charges by Emission Type
As mentioned in our article in 2022, in 2019 none of the airports with emissions-based charges were using CO2 in their charge calculations, in 2022, almost 20% of the airports were doing so. In 2025, 23% of airports with emissions-based charges are using CO2 in their charge calculations.
Globally around 2% of airports have emissions-based charges in place, these airports combined account for just under 7% of global departures in 2025. So, is it just the largest airports who have implemented these charges? Whilst many major airports in Europe have emissions-based charges in place, there are also far smaller commercial airports and private airports who have implemented. Also, of note on the list of airports is the presence of ‘Island’ airports such as Caribbean Islands and Jersey.
The implementation of emissions-based charges needs careful planning and consideration as well as consultation with airline partners. As the inputs for environmental based charges can be very technical it is essential to determine your data source and that it accurately represents your partner airline’s aircraft.
RDC’s combined toolsets can help anyone looking to understand or evaluate the composition of charging structures. Please reach out to us if you’d be interested in hearing more.
If you have enjoyed reading this article you may also like How Eindhoven Airport Used AirportCharges and LOOP to Remodel Charges which outlines the process they undertook when implementing an environmental focus to their charges.
Banner image by Pascal Meier on Unsplash
