SilverJet has written to Prime Minister Tony Blair urging the Government to scrap the increase in Air Passenger Duty in favour of a carbon offsetting scheme.
The all-business class transatlantic airline claims it will be the world’s first carbon neutral airline when it launches on January 25, through its mandatory offsetting scheme. The airline uses a points system to work out its carbon emissions.
Chief executive Lawrence Hunt claimed airlines would cover their carbon emissions output by charging customers 90p for every hour they fly.
He called on the industry to adopt the scheme and the Government to scrap next month’s doubling of APD claiming it’s a way to “increase tax under the pretext of the environment”.
Hunt labelled the tax, which goes as high as £80 for a long-haul business class seat, as “utter rubbish and everybody knows it”.