Green tax consultations
Proposals for environmental tax on aircraft to replace Air Passenger Duty are due to be published this spring, triggering a three-month consultation.
The tax should relate to emissions, taking account of the type and age of aircraft and length of flights and, unlike APD, apply to cargo flights and business jets.
Airlines may be required to submit flight plans a year ahead, meaning preparations would have to begin before the end of the year.
Details of the tax are due by October, although the change would not come into force until November 2009.
The Treasury insists the switch to the new tax “will not be revenue neutral”.
Do not expect the Government to accept industry demands that taxes levied on travel should be used solely for environmental purposes. And in the meantime, from November 2008 business-only carriers such as Silverjet will be subject to the higher rate of APD – up from £40 to £80 per passenger.
BAA faces controversy
Airport operator BAA faces a year of lobbying and, no doubt, fighting off bad press.
It remains the subject of a Competition Commission inquiry into whether it has abused a dominant market position. This could continue into next year and end in BAA being forced to quit some of its airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton.
That would please most airlines, but BAA argues the threat of it happening will hinder investment.
In March, BAA will learn what prices the Civil Aviation Authority will allow it to charge airlines for the next five years.
The CAA’s recommendations – a 15.6% rise at Heathrow this year and 7.5% rise above inflation thereafter, with an 8% rise at Gatwick followed by 2% plus inflation from 2009 – pleased neither the airlines nor BAA. The increases, due from April 1, will inevitably be added to fares.
BAA will lobby hard for planning permission to develop a mega-terminal called Heathrow East on the site of the current Terminal 2, which it hopes to open in time for the London Olympics in 2012.
But most heat will be generated by plans for a third runway at Heathrow – the subject of a Department for Transport consultation due to close on February 27. The Government has said there will be no decision before the summer. If its political problems continue, it may delay.
Superjumbo set for take-off
The double-deck Airbus A380 should begin commercial flights from Heathrow in the colours of Singapore Airlines in March, with a daily service to Singapore.
Christened the Super-jumbo, Singapore’s A380s will seat 471 passengers and offer double beds in 12 first-class suites. But those due to enter service later in the year – with Emirates and Qantas – should carry more, since the aircraft is designed for 555.
The delayed launch of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner should take place in June after being put back six months from December.
The 787’s carbon-composite fuselage represents a step-change in the technology of commercial aircraft.
Launch customer ANA in Japan hopes to take delivery by the end of the year. However, Boeing will face intense pressure to meet the delivery schedule and we will not see a 787 fly commercially from the UK until 2009.
