# MISC | Airline Taxes



## hkskyline

*Pollution Levy Could Push Up European Air Fares*

*Pollution levy could push up price of European air fares *
By GEORGE PARKER 
25 July 2005
Financial Times

Ticket prices for return flights out of European airports could rise by up to Euros 9 (Dollars 10.85, Pounds 6.25), under Brussels plans to make airlines pay for the pollution they cause. 

The European Commission wants to include airlines in its strategy to tackle climate change, putting them in the same category as power generators and oil refineries. 

Under plans seen by the Financial Times, the Commission wants airlines included in Europe's emissions trading scheme, which caps the amount of carbon dioxide an industry is allowed to produce. 

The proposal has the backing of the British European Union presidency, and is accepted by some big airlines, including British Airways. 

An aide to Stavros Dimas, EU environment commissioner, said: "Some airlines see this as inevitable and the least bad solution, but Lufthansa is among those which are concerned." 

Mr Dimas said that including airlines in the emissions trading scheme was "the most promising way forward", preferable to alternatives including a tax on kerosene or a new ticket tax. 

His draft proposal accepts that the cost of the emissions crackdown is "likely to be passed on to air transport users" with a surcharge on a return ticket of up to Euros 9. 

Mr Dimas hopes to present his plan in the autumn, after a wide-ranging environmental programme was approved in principle by the Commission last week. However, new legislation is unlikely to come into force until several years after the original 2008 target date. 

The draft paper says: "As regards the coverage of flights, the Commission believes that all emissions from any flight departing from the EU should be included." The inclusion of non-EU airlines would help protect the competitiveness of European airlines. 

The Commission adds that limiting the scheme to flights both departing from and landing inside the EU would address only 40 per cent of the emissions caused by flights leaving European airports. 

Europe's emissions trading scheme which started on January 1, the first of its kind in the world, caps emissions of carbon dioxide. 

Companies are issued with free permits for each tonne of carbon dioxide they may produce. Cleaner companies that do not use their allowance can sell their permits on the market to companies lagging behind. 

The Association of European Airlines said it was evaluating the emissions trading scheme but was already using better technology to reduce emissions.


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## hkskyline

Are there rules in your jurisdiction that force airlines to price all fees, surcharges, and taxes into plane ticket prices? Have you encountered a situation where you saw a cheap fare being advertised but balloons into an extraordinary amount afterwards when the charges are added in?

Examples :


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## GlasgowMan




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## Monkey

I quite like having the taxes itemised. It shows how much of what we pay is going to the government. That makes consumers less tolerant of higher taxes on flights.


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## hkskyline

Isn't the breakdown of taxes and surcharges mandatory? They may add a bulk number to the ticket in the end but they must show a listing of what that amount is made up of, right?


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## GlasgowMan

I think its right that airlines show how much we pay them and how much we pay the government.

Air travel is already overtaxed, yet all these tree huggers want even more taxes.


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## hkskyline

*Airline Web sites may break EU law *
13 October 2007
International Herald Tribune

PARIS -- Hundreds of airline and travel Web sites in Europe could be breaking the law by adding extra charges to the advertised price of flights or publishing ticket conditions in languages customers cannot understand. 

A survey conducted by consumer protection authorities in 15 countries, coordinated by the European Commission and released to the International Herald Tribune on Friday, showed that passengers were still being misled by a large number of sites. Many presented flights at a token price, only to add airport taxes, booking or credit card fees, or other surcharges at a late stage of the booking. 

The report examined the Web sites of 433 companies, including airlines and travel agencies. Of these, 217 were suspected of breaking some aspect of EU law, which demanded clarity on pricing and conditions of sale. 

In Belgium alone, investigators had suspicions about no fewer than 46 of the 48 operators surveyed. 

The commission was expected to release its report in November, after discussions involving authorities in the 14 EU countries surveyed, plus Norway. 

The European Commission has not released the names of companies under suspicion. But Spain's Instituto Nacional del Consumo, which took part in the investigation on Sept. 27, named two low-cost operators, Ryanair of Ireland and Vueling of Spain, for advertising flights as free without mentioning all applicable charges. 

Those two airlines and two others - Iberia and Spanair - were also criticized for advertising flights at prices that could not be found when searches were made. Ryanair, Transavia and Tuy-Fly made details of the conditions governing ticket sales available only in English even though they were operating in Spain. 

The Spanish investigators found no fault with the Air Berlin, easyJet, Rumbo and Atrapalo Web sites. 

The commission's compilation showed big differences between the findings of the authorities in the different member states. In Austria, for example, no problems were detected on 20 sites examined, while in Sweden, half the sites examined raised suspicions of bad practices. In Finland, two-thirds of sites were identified as suspect. 

National authorities will now contact the companies concerned. Should they fail to provide clarification or change their practices, they could face legal action leading to fines or the closure of their Web sites. 

''This is clearly a European problem which needs an EU-wide coordinated solution,'' said an EU official who asked not to be named because the information was yet to be released publicly. ''This is a brand new way of enforcing consumer rights.'' 

Cornelia Kutterer, senior legal advisor for BEUC, the European consumer organization, said that prices ''should be available to consumers at the beginning of the process not at the end when they have gone through many Web pages.'' 

''If infringements have been clearly identified then the authorities have the obligation to stop them,'' Kutterer added. ''Rights are worth nothing if they are not enforced.'' 

The spot checks have been championed by the EU consumer affairs commissioner, Meglena Kuneva, who has pushed for better coordination by national authorities. 

But Lorna Farren, spokeswoman for Ryanair, described the claims made by Spanish investigators as false. ''All Ryanair flights are advertised inclusive of taxes and charges on the homepage of Ryanair.com,'' she said. ''Passengers may then choose to avail themselves of discretionary extras such as baggage and priority boarding when they book their flights.'' 

She added that terms and conditions for all Ryanair flights were ''automatically given to passengers who book through our Spanish Web site in both Spanish and Catalan.'' 

Ryanair's Web site late on Friday advertised its cheapest flights inclusive of airport taxes. But many flights were still priced without tax or other charges until late in the booking process, and there was an additional fee for those who paid with a credit card or most debit cards. On the Spanish site, a few conditions on some flights popped up in English. 

Vueling included taxes in the advertised price but automatically added insurance to the cost of flights, requiring passengers to tick a box to opt out. It also levied additional fees for most credit cards. 

Alfons Claver, public relations manager for Vueling, said the airline would not comment publicly on the report. ''We are discussing the issues at the moment with the Instituto Nacional del Consumo to review the findings,'' he said. 

The latest findings reinforced those of a report completed last year by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection highlighting failings among aviation companies operating there. 

'' 'Tickets to Italy for 1 zloty' may mislead the consumer because the real cost of purchasing an air ticket is even several hundred times higher than the amount given in the advertisement,'' the report said. 

By failing to provide information in languages other than English, travelers were left without knowing the conditions for changing their ticket, the Polish report said. Some operators refused to consider complaints unless they were made in English 

The report also highlighted the addition of handling fees for credit cards at a late stage of the booking and applied the charge for each traveler and each segment of the flight.


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## AltinD

What I've not been able to understand yet is the availibility of different rates for the same flight, purchased under the same conditions and at the same time that often can differ as much as 100%.


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## hkskyline

The multiple fare schemes take into account demand and timing. Depending on available seating based on existing bookings, airlines may adjust prices so the same type of seat may cost more or less at different times. The same seat may have different prices depending on the conditions, such as unlimited changes (full fare) or no changes (discount economy), etc.

Airlines run very complex revenue management systems to produce this maze of prices.


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## hkskyline

*Airport charges made transparent in EU to prevent abuses *
15 January 2008

STRASBOURG, France (AP) - The European Parliament on Tuesday voted to set clearer rules for calculating airport taxes paid by passengers to try and prevent airports increasing the charges at will. 

Airports charge airlines for using their facilities, and the cost is transferred to passengers, sometimes making up a substantial part of the ticket price. 

Under the new rules, which affect Europe's 67 biggest airports and still need approval from the EU's 27 nations, airports will now have to consult airlines on the way charges are structured. If airlines deem the taxes excessive, they will be able to appeal to a national regulatory body, which will help solve disagreements. 

The new guidelines set the level of service quality to be provided by an airport's managing body in return for the charges. The rules allow airports to pay for upgrades by increasing charges before they carry out any work, but only if passengers are informed of what they are paying for and of the duration of the tax increase. 

Europe's largest budget carrier, Ryanair Holdings PLC, has been in a disagreement with London's Stansted and Dublin airports over increased charges to pay for new terminals. Stansted doubled charges in April and will increase fees again this year as it builds a 4 billion pound (US$7.9 billion; €5.3 billion) second terminal. 

The parliament wants to rules to apply to all EU airports handling more than 5 million passengers a year.


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## Skyprince

Cathay Pacific has the cheapest airline tax and fuel surcharge in the world.


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## Canadian74

How are you so sure? Do you have a source?


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## Club_Dru

*Dutch government: extra environment-tax on flighttickets. *
Flying within Europe + €11.25 per person.
Flying continantal + € 45.00 per person!


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## KIWIKAAS

Skyprince said:


> Cathay Pacific has the cheapest airline tax and fuel surcharge in the world.


nope

I'm not sure who does but Cathay is definitely not it


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## hkskyline

KIWIKAAS said:


> nope
> 
> I'm not sure who does but Cathay is definitely not it


I've had cheaper surcharges on Ryanair and easyJet. That being said, is it based on a per km/mi rate?


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## hkskyline

*MISC | Airline Failure Tax*

*Britain to consider airline seat levy to cover costs of failures*
_Excerpt_

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Airlines operating in Britain should pay a seat levy to cover the costs of getting passengers home in case a carrier goes bust, a government commissioned review said on Thursday.

The recommendations seek to even out anomalies in protection for British travellers, highlighted when Monarch collapsed in 2017, but airlines rejected the review's proposed "airline seat levy" which it said would cost less than 50 pence per passenger.

"Although airline insolvencies are relatively rare... they do happen – and at times have required government to step in to repatriate passengers at great cost to the taxpayer," Peter Bucks, who chaired the review, said in a statement.

British transport minister Chris Grayling said he would consider the proposals by the Airline Insolvency Review, which was set up by finance minister Philip Hammond after the government and the Civil Aviation Authority had to step in to help repatriate Monarch customers.

British holidaymakers who are booked onto a package holiday have what is called Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL) protection, ensuring they can return home and do not lose money.

Monarch, which had both ATOL-protected and flight-only customers, highlighted the discrepancy in British law.

The CAA did not assist in repatriating customers of airlines such as Flybmi when it went bust earlier this year.

Instead, airline passengers often have to rely on their banks, payment card issuers or insurers for refunds, with other airlines often cutting fares in offers to stranded passengers.

More : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...levy-to-cover-costs-of-failures-idUSKCN1SF103


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## hkskyline

*EU nations aim high with plan to tax air travel*
_Excerpt_

PARIS/BRUSSELS, June 20 (Reuters) - The Netherlands and France are trying to convince fellow European nations at a conference in The Hague to end tax exemptions on jet fuel and plane tickets, as part of a drive to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050.

In the first major initiative on air travel tax in years, the conference on Thursday and Friday - which will be attended by about 29 countries - will discuss ticket taxes, kerosene levies and value-added tax (VAT) on air travel.

The Netherlands wants to agree on steps towards ending the near complete lack of taxation on air travel and France is also pushing for an end to tax breaks on jet fuel, as European leaders discuss carbon neutrality at a separate summit in Brussels. .

"The new president of the commission will have to present plans for the fight against climate change in Europe. It is a no-brainer that the possible contribution of the aviation sector will be put on his agenda in the first week in office," Dutch deputy finance minister Menno Snel told Reuters.

The conference will be attended by European Union economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici and finance and environment ministers. The goal is to present conclusions to the new European Commission, which will be sworn in this autumn.

If no EU deal is found, the Netherlands plans to introduce a 7.50 euro ticket tax for departing passengers from 2021.

Friends of the Earth estimates that between 1990 and 2016, aviation emissions more than doubled, while overall emissions fell by 43%.

A combination of low aviation taxes, a proliferation of budget airlines and the rise of Airbnb have led to a boom in intra-European city-trips.

The conference organisers hope that higher taxes will lead to changes in consumer behaviour, with fewer people flying and choosing less carbon-intensive transport options instead.

Research has shown that if the price of air travel goes up by one percent, demand will likely fall by about one percent, according to IMF tax policy division head Ruud De Mooij.

More : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...igh-with-plan-to-tax-air-travel-idUSKCN1TL1I7


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## hkskyline

*Nine EU countries call for European aviation tax to curb emissions *
_Excerpt_
Nov 7, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Nine European Union states have called on the bloc’s incoming executive Commission to introduce an EU-wide tax on aviation so as to charge a polluting industry more for its emissions and put all member states on level pegging.

In a letter to the EU’s executive in charge of climate, Frans Timmermans, the finance ministers of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and five other EU states appealed for “some form of aviation tax” without giving specifics.

One of the largest countries behind the letter was Germany, which already levies its own aviation tax. Its finance minister, Olaf Scholz, told Reuters it might serve as a blueprint for an EU-wide aviation tax.

“The German aviation tax has proven itself. It can also be a model in the EU for more climate protection,” Scholz said.

The nine countries said an aviation tax where “the polluter pays a fairer price for the use of aviation transport” is necessary to combat climate change. Transportation is the only European sector currently increasing its emissions.

More : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-aviation-tax-to-curb-emissions-idUSKBN1XH244


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