Ryanair is to impose a €0.25 levy per passenger to cover the costs of the EU’s new Emissions Trading Scheme.
The new fee per one-way booking will apply from next Tuesday (January 17) as the budget carrier estimated that the EU ETS will cost its passengers €15 million to €20 million in 2012.
A spokesman said: “Ryanair does not believe that European aviation should be included in the ETS scheme since it accounts for less than 2% of the EU’s CO2 emissions.
“This latest EU stealth tax will damage traffic, tourism, European competitiveness and jobs at a time when no other economic bloc is including aviation in their ETS schemes.
“This new ETS tax is the latest in a long line of cost increases imposed on Europe’s air passengers by the European Union, which reduces the competitiveness of EU air transport with yet another misguided ‘environmental’ tax which does nothing for the environment but penalises EU consumers and families.”