Industry hits back at Tory plans for ‘green’ air tax

The travel industry has come out in force against new environmental taxes being proposed by the Conservative party.

Unveiling the proposals, shadow chancellor George Osborne said they were designed to target frequent travellers but not families taking one package holiday a year.

The plans include a ‘Green Air Miles Allowance’, where everyone would be able to take one short-haul flight at the standard rate of aviation tax, but frequent flyers would pay a higher rate.

Other proposals being put forward are a fuel duty or VAT on domestic flights, or replacing Air Passenger Duty with a per-flight tax linked to carbon emissions.

But travel industry bodies say the taxes would damage the UK economy and wrongly penalise the aviation sector.

Federation of Tour Operators director general Andy Cooper said aviation was only responsible for 6% of carbon emissions in the UK and 1.5% worldwide.

“It’s just completely over the top and unnecessary,” he said. “If these proposals were directed at the cost of electricity, gas and motors, I would have more sympathy.

“To say that families won’t be affected is fine in theory, but the industry has moved on so much that people don’t just take one package holiday a year.”

A spokeswoman for ABTA said: “There seems to be a lot of headline grabbing going on here. VAT on domestic fuel for flights is just not workable. We don’t want to see a decrease in passenger numbers overseas. We might want to slow down the rate of growth, but none of these proposals will do that. We need to be consulted very thoroughly on this.”

Tom Jenkins, executive director of the European Tour Operators Association said: “The problem with so much of the environmental campaign is that the only solution it sees to dealing with climate change is to stop people from travelling and from undertaking all kinds of commerce that make the world go round. It’s like advocating amputation as the cure to a septic finger.

“What we need is much more enlightened thinking that simultaneously stimulates reduction in CO2 emissions and productive innovation. The focus should be on technological advancement and alternative sources of fuel rather than punitive taxation that will destroy the economy.”

Airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Easjyet, also voiced their opposition to the proposals, which are now up for consultation.

By Bev Fearis