AIRLINES, operators and aviation consumer groups have defended the industry in the face of calls for higher taxes on flights to help ease environmental damage.
EasyJet said draconian rises in Air Passenger Duty and even VAT on flights would hit the less well-off and would not make the UK greener.
MPs on the Environment Audit Committee have called for a rise in APD, which has remained unchanged for five years, and the addition of 17.5% VAT to slow demand for air travel.
However, the industry said not enough notice was being taken of efforts by airlines and airports to be more environmentally-friendly, including better-designed aircraft.
“The idea to price less affluent customers out of the sky to reduce emissions from aviation is not only a blunt and unimaginative measure, but it is also unnecessary, given there are better options available, such as urgently needed air traffic reform,” said EasyJet in response to the MPs¹ report.
Flybe said: “The report’s focus on the claimed inequity of the lack of tax on aviation fuel is grossly misleading as it fails to acknowledge that aviation meets, in full, all the costs of its infrastructure with none of the massive subsidies enjoyed by road and rail.”
Air Transport Users Council chief executive Simon Evans added: “The main question is whether these taxes would achieve the objective of driving down demand.”
Meanwhile, Federation of Tour Operators director-general Andy Cooper pointed out in a letter to the Bishop of London, who said flying to go on holiday was sinful that airlines account for just 2% of total carbon emissions worldwide.
“To ration aviation either by cost or by some other means is applying a form of social exclusion and only the wealthy will be able to travel,” wrote Cooper.