Green taxes on air travel exceed carbon costs

By David Millward, Transport Editor
Last Updated: 10:30pm BST 01/08/2008

Airline passengers now pay more in green taxes than is needed to cover the cost of environmental damage they cause, the Government has admitted.
The disclosure emerged in the Emissions Cost Assessment which was quietly released before MPs departed for the summer recess.
According to the Department for Transport, aviation now pays £100m more than its environmental costs a year as a result of the doubling of Air Passenger Duty in February last year.

This equates to about £1.50 a ticket. But it will make it politically difficult for the Government to press ahead with further tax rises.

Last year Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, used his Pre-Budget report to announce plans to replace a per passenger tax with a per flight tax, called Aviation Duty, from Nov 1 2009.
The Government is also looking to raise an additional £500m from airline passengers in the first year. In this year's Budget, Mr Darling announced a further 10pc rise in the new Aviation Duty.
According to experts the changes mean that the aviation industry will be paying £3.6bn in tax by 2012.
Then the European Union is planning to enforce its Emissions Trading System, which would force airlines to pay for the greenhouse gases they emit through a complex licensing scheme - known as "carbon permits".
It is estimated that the EU scheme would add £11.10 to an individual return ticket.
Passenger groups and airlines have protested that domestic and European climate levies could make air travel unaffordable for many.
"We have always said that it is entirely reasonable to expect passengers to pay the environmental costs of their travel," said Simon Evans, chief executive of the Air Transport Users Council (AUC). "It now looks that we have been paying more than our fair share for some time.
"Fuel surcharges over the last few years have pushed up costs for ordinary travellers."
There was an equally angry reaction from the British Air Transport Association, representing UK airlines.
"The Government now admits that UK air travel more than covers its climate change costs. But they still seem intent on increasing the environmental taxes that air travellers are forced to pay," a spokesman said.
A spokesman for low-cost carrier easyJet said: "The Government's admission that aviation more than covers its environmental costs is a nail in the coffin of those who hysterically lay the blame for global warming at the door of aviation."
But Richard Dyer, aviation campaigner with Friends of the Earth, believed aviation taxes should continue to rise.
"The cost of carbon used by the Government in this assessment is less than that used by its own climate change adviser, Nicholas Stern," he said.