German Greens call for end to subsidized air traffic

The German Green Party criticized that travelling by train in Germany was more expensive than flying, Green parliamentary faction deputy leader Oliver Krischer told German newspaper Die Welt on Monday.

"It is absurd that climate-damaging flying is cheaper than climate-friendly rail travel. This is because, for example, neither, while you have to pay 19 percent VAT on rail tickets," said Krischer.

Competition between planes and trains needed to become fairer, said Krischer, adding that his party wanted to invest the money saved by eliminating flight subsidies in Germany's railways.

In a recent position paper, the German Greens announced that they wanted to make travelling by train attractive enough to render short-stretch flights "superfluous" by 2035.

According to figures from the German Interior Ministry, employees of the German federal ministries and their subordinate administrations undertook 229,116 domestic flights last year.

All German ministries have two official seats, one in Berlin and one in Bonn, while six ministries even have their first office in Bonn, which meant that many employees frequently travelled between the two cities, the ministry noted.

According to the German Environment Ministry, the federal travel expenses act stipulates that the cheapest means of transport should be used for government business trips.

The cheaper airline ticket prices meant that flights were often chosen over trains, the ministry noted.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze has called for an increase in air traffic taxes to be included in the government's new climate package to be announced in September.

Bavaria's Minister President Markus Soeder suggested that climate protection should be anchored in the German constitution as an obligatory state task.