Costs and funding of air transport

The costs for air transport (scheduled and chartered flights) in 2020 were CHF 4.2 billion. Most of these costs (64%) concerned the acquisition and operation of the aircraft. The remainder was made up of infrastructure costs (21%) and environmental and health costs (15%). In particular, these included climate damage linked to CO2 emissions.

The cost of the infrastructure and aircraft is largely borne by passengers, who covered 54% of the total cost. Environmental and health costs are almost entirely borne by the general public.

Costs and funding of air transport¹, 2020

Total costs2	CHF 4.2 billion
Change since 2010	–26%
Share of costs of means of transport	64%
Transport users' share of funding	54%

1) Scheduled and charter flights, including freight in aircraft holds

2) Including the intangible costs arising from environmental and health damage and accidents. For air transport, the half-route principle has been applied instead of the principle of territoriality.
Source: FSO – Statistics on the cost and funding of transport (CFT)

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General aviation

There are no precise figures for general aviation, which operates mainly with small aircraft. The cost of commercial general aviation traffic can be estimated at CHF 0.9 billion for 2015, of which CHF 0.1 billion concerns accidents, the environment and health. This commercial traffic includes in particular business travel (business jets), sightseeing flights and transport flights.

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