Britons face flight price hikes of up to £400 as Net Zero drive threatens to price families out of holidays abroad

The money would go towards reducing aviation emissions.

But the advice, if implemented, risks "pricing ordinary people out of the joys of travel", according to industry leaders.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) had been asked to assess the impact of a planned £33billion Heathrow Airport expansion on the UK's climate obligations.

It warned that, even without the expansion, the aviation sector needed to bring emissions down.

The industry should pay the costs of decarbonisation, it said, but this "is likely to increase ticket prices".

A price hike would lower demand and increase revenue for Net Zero policies, it said, "so that the same policy instrument both reduces the size of the problem and serves to fund solutions".

Britons face flight price hikes of up to £400 thanks to the Net Zero drive

PA

Chancellor John Healey said last week that the Government had "given the go-ahead" to the proposal to build a third runway at Heathrow, which will include £1.5billion spent on moving the M25.

The expansion will increase the site's capacity to 756,000 flights and 150 million passengers.

But Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously expressed concerns over the plans, and it has long been opposed by climate experts and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

In advice requested by the Government on expanding Heathrow, the CCC warned there was "no credible pathway" for the move within the UK's legal targets for cutting aviation emissions.

And, whether or not Heathrow expansion goes ahead, the UK "does not have a credible plan to reduce" aviation emissions, posing a serious challenge to meeting overall climate targets, the committee warned.

It said: "Before granting a development consent order for any proposed Heathrow expansion, the UK Government should legislate policies that require the aviation sector to abate 100 per cent of emissions by 2050, either directly or by purchasing engineered removals.

"This is the only way that the proposed Heathrow expansion could be considered consistent with the UK's carbon budgets and Net Zero."

The UK is legally obliged to hit Net Zero by 2050. The aviation industry is difficult to decarbonise, and options include more efficient aircraft and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The latter is more expensive than kerosene and is yet to be scaled up.

Projects that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are another proposed solution.

The CCC says the airline sector should pay for the cost of these policies, which would likely be passed on to travellers and see flight prices rise significantly over the next few decades.

Taking action now, it said, could ensure that costs are phased in slowly to avoid sudden jumps in price.

While policy on how the costs should be passed on to passengers would be a matter for Government, the committee pointed to public support for ensuring that ordinary families should not be priced out of the occasional holiday abroad.

This could mean the use of a frequent flyer tax for those who take multiple flights in a year, while there could also be carve-outs for flights from Britain to Northern Ireland or the Shetland Islands.

CCC chairman Nigel Topping said that emissions from flying had doubled in the UK since 1990, even as overall climate pollution had halved, and Heathrow was responsible for around half of the sector's emissions.

He said: "Every tonne of greenhouse gas emissions contributes to climate change and its impacts, of which we've seen stark evidence with the extreme weather this summer. Expansion cannot mean more climate pollution."

He added: "Ultimately, the polluter pays principle must apply. If aviation is to grow, it must take responsibility for the emissions it creates.

"Expansion can only be compatible with the UK's climate commitments if the sector is required to manage and pay for the full cost of reaching Net Zero."

In response, the airline industry called for the transition to Net Zero to be affordable, claiming airlines were already investing billions in new aircraft, sustainable aviation fuel and airspace upgrades, and had a plan to deliver it.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, said: "The answer is affordable SAF, already cutting emissions since the mandate began, airspace reform by 2035 for more direct routes and scaled-up carbon removals.

"Both SAF and greenhouse gas removals are proven technically viable, as the CCC itself admits.

"We should focus on delivering them, not pricing ordinary people out of the joys of travel."

Andrew Montford, director of campaign group Net Zero Watch, condemned the recommendations.

He said: "It looks as though the writing is on the wall for the aviation industry - the Climate Change Committee intends to see it consigned to history, just as they have overseen the closure of much of our manufacturing base already.

"Britain needs to close down the committee before the committee closes down Britain."

But MP Toby Perkins, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: "The Climate Change Committee has given clear advice to the government that expanding Heathrow airport is not currently compatible with the UK's climate commitments.

"The Government needs to take this advice very seriously. If the government wants to pursue airport expansion, it must ensure a more ambitious and convincing approach to decarbonising the heavily polluting aviation industry.

"Without that, it risks putting our Net Zero targets in serious peril and becoming stuck in a quagmire of legal challenges."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Any expansion proposal would need to align with our Net Zero targets.

"We're investing £219million in sustainable aviation fuel production and a further £43 million in cleaner technologies to support greener aviation, while expansion could deliver around £40 billion to the economy and support up to 60,000 local jobs.

"We will carefully consider CCC's advice along with all responses received to the Heathrow expansion consultation."