Switzerland to introduce a 500 CHF tax per private flight

Peter wrote:

for a few hundred k

That’s expensive for a medical, even a fake one

JasonC wrote:

If they choose to charge them, they can easily.

As is clearly demonstrated by the “0 euros” bills I keep getting from Eurocontrol

ivark wrote:

It exists in Estonia :) – most of the time I fly in controlled airspace (VFR) I get some bill afterwards (roughly 5EUR per 100km) for Terminal Navigation charge..

Well, I would complain against such invoices, since VFR doesn’t have to pay any terminal navigation fees in Estonia, according to the Eurocontrol exemption table. Only a few countries charge enroute fees VFR (only above 2t MTOW), like Italy, Sweden or Germany (CVFR).

I’m not so sure- the AIP shows no general excemptions for terminal navigation charges, only for route charge..

http://eaip.eans.ee/2020-01-02/html/eAIP/EE-GEN-4.2-en-GB.html#GEN-4

This proposed Swiss landing tax seems to be predicated on the rather questionable assertion that aviation is more environmentally harmful than road, rail or sea transport.

Does anyone know of reliable (i.e. produced by an organisation which doesn’t have an axe to grind) figures to support this?

For instance, this pretty chart published by the IPCC shows some overlap between direct gCO2/passenger.km emissions while excluding indirect emissions arising from vehicle manufacture, infrastructure, etc. included in life-cycle analyses except from electricity used for rail. Which, roughly translated into plain English, means that the IPCC’s chart is a bit like Microsoft’s product support: technically correct but completely useless:

It is also by no means clear that the authors have taken account of the fact that airplanes generally fly shorter, more direct, routes from A to B (for instance, from my kitchen to Stolman’s back door is 50 miles/35 minutes by air and foot, or 215 miles/6h30 by road and ferry. Apple Maps offers no public transport option…).

Lastly, comparisons demonising air transport usually gloss over the wider social and environmental impact of the terrestrial transport infrastructure. Highways and railways are not wildlife- and landscape-friendly, while a passenger aircraft touches mother earth only twice, leaving no trace in between.

ivark wrote:

I’m not so sure- the AIP shows no general excemptions for terminal navigation charges, only for route charge..

http://eaip.eans.ee/2020-01-02/html/eAIP/EE-GEN-4.2-en-GB.html#GEN-4

Ah, did you land on a controlled airport before such invoices? In that case, approach fees are quite normal for VFR, I’m paying that in Germany, Switzerland or Austria on controlled airports too. But I never pay en-route charges or for TMA-crossings without landing. According to your link, this should be the same for Estonia:
“2.3 The terminal navigation charge is not collected from aircraft flying in terminal control area of an aerodrome without landing provided that the route air navigation charge is paid.”
Since air navigation charges doesn’t apply to you (VFR and/or IFR below 2t MTOW), you shouldn’t pay anything if you don’t land on a controlled airport, or does Estonia make up their own rules?

Frans wrote:

Since air navigation charges doesn’t apply to you (VFR and/or IFR below 2t MTOW), you shouldn’t pay anything if you don’t land on a controlled airport, or does Estonia make up their own rules?

No, everything is pretty standard.. And yes, I usually fly from a controlled airport.
My initial reply was to somebody claiming that its impossible to charge for navigation with mode-c ,so I tried to show that its possible at least for terminal navigation charges.

@ivark: Thanks, makes it clear for me! I was just really wondering that Estonia sends invoices for just transiting VFR-traffic, but that seems not the case. If I for example land at Maastricht-Aachen Airport, Eurocontrol sends also an invoice of 10 EUR for the approach fee afterwards. In the Netherlands, this is a fixed price, related to MTOW, for each approach/landing.

On this topic, I just discovred that there are charges for aircrafts transit in US airspace and not takeoff/landing (25$/100nm), I looked at the airspace it does indeed include say Island VFR flying in the Caribean? Did anyone got a bill for this? Do you have to be on some ATC service?

Flying in the Bahamas above 6000’ you get radar, SAR etc from Miami and the FAA send you a bill in the post (I believe – no personal experience)

Capitaine wrote:

Capitaine30-Jan-20 17:02213
Flying in the Bahamas above 6000’ you get radar, SAR etc from Miami and the FAA send you a bill in the post (I believe – no personal experience)

Interesting info on this issue in the Federal Register here.

There are apparently no ‘overflight’ fees assessed if the bill would be less than $400 which for oceanic flights means less than 1500 nautical miles in length.