Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, has voted to reverse an increase in the country's air traffic tax that came into force in May 2024. The measure, which was confirmed in November 2025 as part of the government's coalition agreement, will reverse the air traffic tax to its previous stance on 1 July. This means reductions in the per-passenger charge from €15.53 ($18) to €13.03 for short-haul flights, from €39.34 to €33.01 for medium-haul, and from €70.83 to €59.43 for long-haul. This will cost around €330 million through 2027, the government anticipates. German airlines have long complained that the country's tax system discourages air travel, with a related knock-on impact on economic competitiveness. This has been cited by several carriers as a reason to pull back capacity from the German market, which has seen one of the slowest recoveries from the pandemic in Europe. Last month, Lufthansa Group announced 20,000 cancellations from its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich, which it said was designed to save 40,000t of fuel. However, it correspondingly increased services to and from countries outside Germany. That came on top of previous heavy cuts to the carrier's domestic services announced last year. Lufthansa estimates that the cost of operating in the country had broadly doubled since 2019. "We welcome the reversal of the recent increase in air passenger duty as a commitment to Germany as an aviation hub. This is an important signal, because Germany is among the top countries in Europe in terms of the burden of government-imposed location costs," says Jens Bischof, president of German aviation association BDL. However, the industry body believes the decision must be followed by further relief measures, estimating that reversing the tax increases reduces the burden by around €2.50 per passenger. "To make Germany a competitive aviation hub in Europe again, we need relief of €15 per passenger," says the BDL.

European air connectivity flatlined in 2025, as high costs and regulatory pressures constrained growth, according to new data from IATA. The airline association says the total number of routes across the EU expanded by just 1% last year, below the 1.5% compound annual growth recorded over the previous decade. IATA data shows that 1,127 routes were cancelled in 2025, while 1,281 were added, resulting in a net gain of 154 routes. The overall network now totals 14,797 routes. "The growth of airline route networks reflects both developments in demand and the operating environment," says Thomas Reynaert, IATA’s senior vice-president for external relations. "That the European Union's air connectivity virtually flatlined in 2025 is no surprise. The regulatory burden is onerous, costs are high, and the EU's well-documented underlying competitiveness issues have not been seriously addressed." He adds that attempts to update pieces of legislation which would in theory make them more palatable to airlines "appear to be doomed to just make them worse". Reynaert's comments echo those of 35 chief executives from Europe's regional airline industry, who warned this week that a proposed update to EU261 passenger rights legislation, first promised in 2013, risks becoming "the last straw" for the sector, rather than the relief initially envisaged. Revisions to EU261 compensation legislation are intended to provide stronger passenger protection amid travel disruption while also regulating airline costs and clarifying legal definitions, according to the European Parliament. There will be a defined list of scenarios that exempt airlines from paying compensation, and potentially a mandate allowing passengers to carry one free personal item and one small hand-luggage item free of charge. Changes to the legislation were agreed by the European Parliament in January, but the EU Council, which represents member states, rejected these amendments in March. They are currently in a conciliation committee. "At a time of soaring fuel prices and geopolitical uncertainty," the executives wrote, the new rules "could simply push us to breaking point." IATA emphasises the economic importance of aviation, noting that more than 9.2 million jobs and €760 billion ($882 billion) in GDP are supported by air transport and related tourism across the EU. As well as reform EU261, IATA is requesting changes to passenger rights rules, to reduce the cost of sustainable aviation fuel, strengthen oversight of airport and air navigation charges, allow greater flexibility on airport slots during crises, and eliminate national passenger taxes.

Update (17:17 Pacific time, 22 May 2026): On 22 May, the US government expanded the ban mentioned in the third paragraph of this story to include legal permanent residents of the USA. US citizens are not subject to the ban. Measures taken by the US government on 18 May to "protect the health and safety of the American public" in response to Ebola outbreaks in Africa have already forced one flight by a major airline to divert. On 20 May, an Air France flight from Paris to Detroit, Michigan was diverted to Montreal after it was determined that one of the passengers was from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a 21 May report by CBS News. Entry to the USA by non-US passport holders who have been in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan over the past 21 days has been restricted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for 30 days from 18 May. Subsequent to those measures, DHS said in a draft rule published to the Federal Register that all flights "carrying persons who have recently travelled from, or were otherwise present within" the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan must arrive at Washington Dulles. At that airport, the US government is "focusing public health resources to implement enhanced public health measures". CBS News reported on 20 May that it is "unclear how the new DHS rule impacts the CDC's order".Under the measures announced 18 May, the CDC and DHS will also co-ordinate with airlines, international partners and port-of-entry officials to "identify and manage travellers who may have been exposed to Ebola virus". Satish Pillai, the CDC's incident manager for Ebola response, said on 19 May during a call with media that the Ebola outbreak is a "fast-moving situation" and that the CDC had confirmed a case of an American infected with Ebola while working in the DRC. POTENTIAL DEMAND DESTRUCTION The restrictions on non-US passport holders could lead to some demand destruction on routes from Uganda, the DRC and South Sudan, as well as from other destinations to which persons who have recently been in those countries subsequently travelled. The latter case is tough to measure as it is difficult or impossible to track where those people went, but Cirium data can give insights into the former. The DRC, South Sudan and Uganda are all designated Level 4 by the US State Department in its travel advisories, indicating that people should not travel there. There are also no nonstop flights between the USA and Uganda, the DRC or South Sudan, Cirium fleets data shows, so only connecting traffic from those countries could be affected by the US government's measures. Some of the carriers that are exposed include Kenya Airways, which flies from Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi to John F Kennedy International airport, as well as Ethiopian Airlines, which dominates all three markets at the hub level, although its US services are routed via a West African tech stop, and so are not technically nonstop. Brussels Airlines, known for flying the DRC diaspora due to Belgium's historic links with that country, operates from Brussels to both John F Kennedy International airport and Washington Dulles International airport, the latter, of course, being the one to which DHS wants to route affected passengers. Those carriers could be forced to deny boarding to US-bound passengers that rub up against the CDC/DHS measures, possibly having to refund or rebook passengers. There may, therefore, be reduced load factors on their transatlantic legs while the measures are in place. UGANDA AND ENTEBBE INTERNATIONAL Uganda's main airport is Entebbe International, which serves both the town of Entebbe and the much larger capital Kampala. The airport offers multiple widebody and mid-gauge flights feeding potential US-bound itineraries. The below map shows to which African destinations Entebbe's passengers can fly with Uganda Airlines to connect onward nonstop to the USA. It excludes non-African connector destinations such as London and Dubai.