Sweden has taken a step that other governments may end up following in one form or another: Subsidizing air travel to blunt the effects of war-related energy shortages.
In an emergency budget, the company has appropriated 500 million kroner (about $53 million) that is split between relieving airports of costs they normally pass on to passengers; the rest will go toward subsidizing key domestic flights that might become unprofitable due to fuel costs.
Specifically, the central government will, for now, cover the 46-kronor that airports add to the cost of each ticket for security checks, and expects that it will be removed from tickets.
The Infrastructure minister told press that he could not guarantee the subsidy would lead to lower prices, “But you can be sure that if we had not removed this fee, these 46 kronor would have definitely remained on every ticket.” He also said that “This is a strong package which prepares us for the possibility that things get worse.”
