I’ve known the answer to this question for years… ‘yes’… But the extent of UK air tax was only highlighted to me this morning.
When researching return fares from Manchester to London, I noticed that 100% of the BA fare is tax.
BA is not making any money directly from this route (although I understand the airline operates it as a feeder for long haul LHR traffic).
It makes me wonder how a government can get away with charging so much tax that companies actually loose out as a result? And I wonder how the passengers would feel if they knew every single penny they paid for the flight was going to the treasury with just a small amount going to the airline to pay for the fuel and landing slots?
Looking at BA’s American counterpart (AA) on a similar length route from BOS-JFK and on the same travel dates, I saw that on the $179 fare, only $21.60 is tax.
100% tax (and fuel surcharge) on domestic routes in the UK vs only 12% in the US.
Even in other European countries tax is nowhere near as high… Looking at BA’s Spanish partner; on a return flight from VLC-MAD, tax makes up just 64% of the €109 ticket price.
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th August 2012 at 16:51
Yeh, I booked a flight to New York, £430, of which £370 was tax!
By: ThreeSpool - 15th August 2012 at 20:07
Matt-100, I understand what you are getting at, but my point being that the fuel surcharge being applied, covers or nearly covers the cost of fuel being needed.
I accept that it – my previous posting – was an entirely simplistic view on the entire process of fuel planning and all the variables that go into operating a flight safely – not least, the aircraft might not have a full passenger load.
It does show how stupid the fuel surcharge is, and why it should be included within the airfare.
By: Matt-100 - 15th August 2012 at 17:06
£5,994 / 1.91 = ~3,100USG or ~9.5T fuel
The A320 when fully fuelled takes 6,303USG / 18.7T of fuel.
It doesn’t take a half fuel load to go from MAN->LHR.
EDIT – Just realised that the £37.00 fuel surcharge was for both outbound and inbound flight. Still, fuel surcharge covers the cost of the fuel if all seats filled.
Well as you say that’s for both outbound and inbound.
As we can see from the BA information provided at the top of the page, the outbound flight is 50 minutes, the inbound is 1hr.
Accumulated total so far = 1:50 hrs
Each flight needs enough fuel to divert to the alternate airport, let’s say the two alternate airports are Gatwick (outbound) and Leeds (inbound)…. Say it takes 15 minutes to get to both from the intended arrival airports = 30 minutes.
Accumulated total so far = 2:20 hrs
On top of the fuel required to divert to the alternate airport, each flight must carry a minimum of 45 minutes extra fuel – to account for circling, weather delays, holding etc. 45 minutes outbound and inbound = 1:30 hrs
Accumulated total so far = 3:50 hrs… And suddenly you’re very close to half the maximum endurance of the aircraft (hence why the passengers pay for a 1/2 fuel load).
On short flights the majority of fuel on-board the aircraft will be legal limit reserves.
By: ppp - 15th August 2012 at 15:54
If you voted Lib Dem/Labour/Conservative/Green with their “Green” policies then you voted for this high tax!
By: ThreeSpool - 15th August 2012 at 15:34
Assuming, the flight was full, and every passenger paid the £37.00 fuel surcharge on a domestically operated A320 (162 passengers) = £5,994.00
As a guide, we’ll use the IATA fuel price website for the price of fuel and £1 GBP = $1.56760 USD.
Fuel: £1.91/US Gallon
£5,994 / 1.91 = ~3,100USG or ~9.5T fuel
The A320 when fully fuelled takes 6,303USG / 18.7T of fuel.
It doesn’t take a half fuel load to go from MAN->LHR.
Obviously, this is simplified and you would have navigation charges, employees costs, insurance, maintenance, etc…but not every passenger would be paying £0.00 for the base airfare.
EDIT – Just realised that the £37.00 fuel surcharge was for both outbound and inbound flight. Still, fuel surcharge covers the cost of the fuel if all seats filled.
By: Arabella-Cox - 14th August 2012 at 23:20
We only live in a high-tax economy because we let the government get away with it.
Petrol and diesel prices are another extortionate example.
By: Garyw - 14th August 2012 at 20:59
ohhh! I shouldn’t have posted whilst eating dinner. doh!!
It is insane that the govt take so much money that the flight is effectively free….
By: Matt-100 - 14th August 2012 at 19:41
26.00+34.10+60.10 = £120.2
Something doesn’t add up.
The £60.10 is the total tax+charges (£26 + £34.10)
By: Garyw - 14th August 2012 at 19:08
26.00+34.10+60.10 = £120.2
Something doesn’t add up.
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August 14, 2012 at 3:52 pm