First Choice chief executive Peter Long has said the Government has “driven a cart and horses” through its own attempts to offset carbon emissions accusing it of revenue raising to fill a black hole in its accounts.
An angry Long hit out at yesterday’s doubling of APD during a conference call about First Choice’s preliminary results that saw overall underlying operating profit up by 13% to £135.4 million despite profits in its mainstream holidays division down £3.8 million, or 7%.
Long said work to limit First Choice’s impact on the environment was something that was “very close to our heart” and that the company had been working very hard developing its own carbon offsetting programme.
“We believe at the moment we have had a cart and horses driven through it which, looking at the papers this morning, just looks like another tax grab to fill another black hole,” Long said.
Just last week at the ABTA Travel Convention the operator announced what it claimed was the world’s first and largest leisure airline carbon offset scheme and had hoped taking such measures would win it favours from the Government.
Long pledged to talk to the Federation of Tour Operators about the issue of APD that he described as a “blunt instrument” to tackle travel’s impact on the environment.
First Choice has blamed the World Cup, bird flu and the hot summer weather for the worsening performance of its mainstream short-haul business but conceded that it was also in part down to the increasingly commoditised nature of the short-haul holiday market.
Depressed demand during the peak season mant lower prices this year and First Choice was not able to meet rising fuel costs, Long said.
The company said its focus on specialist, long-haul, exclusive product and the fact it has spread its risks into different sectors and geographical areas, something it will continue to do with what Long described as a promising pipe line of potential acquisitions, insulated it against difficult trading conditions.
Long said forward bookings have picked up in the last 10 weeks and he was happy with the prospects for First Choice in 2007.
He would not comment further on the announcement last week that First Choice is looking at a range of options for its Mainstream Holidays Division that came amid reports of talks with MyTravel about a buy-out and prompted speculation about a deal with Thomas Cook.
Doubling existing APD, which have been unchanged since April 2001, will add £5 to a short-haul economy fare, £10 to short-haul premium, £20 to a long-haul economy fare and £40 to premium long-haul.