Innsbruck Airport actually wanted to introduce emission-based usage fees with effect from January 1, 2023. Nothing will come of it - at least for the time being, as can be seen from the recently announced fee schedule for 2023. It fails because of the bureaucracy.
In Austria, airports are not free to set their fees and charges; they must comply with the Airport Charges Act and the Aviation Security Act. In these, the calculation is recorded fairly precisely. The operators must have their planned regulations approved by the Ministry of Transport (BMK). Federal Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens), who has so far been averse to aviation, has the last word.
It is all the more surprising that the BMK emissions-based fees planned by Innsbruck Airport has declined. So it stays in Tyrol in previous gradations, which are based on aircraft noise but not on pollutant emissions. The decision could not be explained conclusively, but there are indications that Innsbruck Airport may have been ahead of its time.
The legal basis on which the determination of the fee schedule, which has to be approved by the BMK, is based simply does not provide for emissions-based airport fees. However, there is legal support for the fact that the costs that airlines and other users have to pay can be made dependent on aircraft noise. To put it simply: Innsbruck Airport cannot currently charge more for aircraft that are polluting, because the federal government has failed to adapt the laws accordingly.
As long as there is no corresponding amendment, the BMK may not approve emission-dependent fee regulations. Thus will at least in 2023 – do not change anything for the users in Innsbruck. In concrete terms, this means that older aircraft, which are considered to be more polluting, pay the same price as modern aircraft. At best, there can be upward or downward deviations if aircraft are louder or quieter. That's not quite what the inventors wanted, because Innsbruck actually wanted to be a pioneer and reward airlines that use modern machines and ask those that use the proverbial "stinker" to pay more.
Ultimately, however, the "ball" is not in Innsbruck, but in Vienna with Minister Leonore Gewessler and the federal government. It therefore remains to be seen whether the legal basis for emissions-based airport charges can be created in the course of 2023. Incidentally, we have heard from other Austrian airports that they also want to introduce fee schedules based on pollutant emissions. This is also to anticipate the possible introduction of electrically powered aircraft. These are to be promoted through particularly favorable fees.