Fuel levy’s are in place to compensate airlines for the rising cost of oil though, not as a tax for the impact on environment. Some airlines absorb the cost of the rising increase, such as Ryanair who gaurantee its passengers they will not introduce a fuel surcharge, where as others such as BA and Virgin charge up to £70 return. The ‘green tax’, if implemented, would be an additional cost to add on top of any other surcharges.

Firstly, Ryanair – you’ve been sucked in my their rhetoric. All that is happened is that Ryanair don’t seperate out the extra cost of fuel in their pricing. Their minimum “headline” fares may remain low, but as they don’t publish fares all they need to do is hike the prices they are charging in any given instance. I’ll bet Ryanair’s average fares are higher now than they were before oil started going up, to compensate. As a matter of fact, I’m surprised the Big Chief of TinkersAir hasn’t had anything to say about the proposed tax – the Orange one’s actually put out quite a reasonable statement.

As far as the tax itseft is concerned, its fair that air travellers pay if it is used to combat emissions and the impact of aviation on the environment. If it just another tax that goes into Gordon Brown’s coffers and serves no useful effect on the environment other than directly as a result of its application inhibiting growth, then its contemptable.

Andy