Flying from the Netherlands? You’re going to pay significantly more than other travellers

As if international flights were not already expensive enough, from 2027, travellers flying out of Schiphol Airport will pay a significantly higher air passenger tax compared to transfer passengers. 

Travellers departing from any airport in the Netherlands currently pay about €29 in air passenger tax. This fee is included in the ticket price and fully paid by the passenger.

Everyone knows the Dutch government loves an opportunity to tax its people. So it has simply done what it does best.

And now, it plans on taxing passengers even more.

So how much will I have to pay in 2027?

Starting in 2027, the air passenger tax will depend on flight distance, reports de Volkskrant. 

Flights within the EU will stay at €29, medium-haul flights (2,000-5,500 km) will be taxed €47, and long-haul flights over 5,500 km will cost the passenger a whopping €70.86.

Basically, the farther you flee from the winter gloom, the higher your tax bill. 

Here’s a glimpse of where our money might be going…

No tax for the transfers 

There is one exception to this tax, however. 

Schiphol is among the largest transfer airports in Europe. To help keep that position, the air passenger tax does not apply to transfer passengers. And neither do the airport fees that Schiphol charges airlines. 

For instance, if you were to fly from Brussels to Washington with a transfer in Amsterdam, you would be exempt from the tax.

READ MORE | Dutch MPs worry new flight tax will send travellers packing (to Belgium)

And it’s not just travellers from the Netherlands who are unhappy about this.

Fed up with charging higher ticket prices for passengers flying from Amsterdam, EasyJet’s country director William Vet tells the ANP: “You can’t burden one group of passengers so heavily. Schiphol is pricing itself out of the market.”

Currently, for every euro a traveller departing from the Netherlands pays in taxes, a transfer passenger pays 39 cents, according to research agency SEO. 

How has your experience been travelling from a Dutch airport? Tell us in the comments!