The European airline industry has reacted angrily to a proposal from European Union (EU) finance ministers for a poverty tax on air tickets to pay for aid to developing countries.
However, it is far from clear who will join the scheme, which was proposed by France and Germany. Belgium has indicated that it would sign up, while a handful of other member states have suggested they would look at a voluntary payment by passengers or airlines.
The finance ministers will examine a formal proposal on the tax when they meet in June. The EU has suggested taxes of €10 ($12.6) per passenger for intra-EU flights and €30 per passenger for flights outside the region.
Airlines are not convinced. "Our industry plays an eminent role in promoting tourism, surely a key source of revenue within Europe and in developing countries … ministers should encourage, and not discourage tourism," says Association of European Airlines secretary general Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus.
He added that the mix of mandatory payments and voluntary charges on airlines and passengers was "a recipe for confusion and distortion to competition, both within Europe and internationally". Schulte-Strathaus says that many AEA carriers have introduced voluntary schemes where passengers who wish to contribute can do so. "The airlines are the wrong targets," he says.
Sylviane Lust, director general of leisure airline trade body the International Air Carrier Association, warns that a tax "would further jeopardise the competitiveness of European carriers", and points to the price-sensitive nature of European leisure travel. "It is unacceptable that airline passengers are the targets of such an improvised and demagogic initiative," she adds.
Low-cost carriers at the French Connect forum with French airports, held in Sheffield, UK in May, made it clear that the high taxes charged by the French government in comparison with other member states was hindering the growth of the sector in France, and are unlikely to be encouraged by France's leading role in the new tax proposal.
The idea of an airline tax to fund international development has been floated before. The latest proposals stem from worries within the EU that some member states will fail to reach international development funding goals set by the UN in 2000 under its Millennium Development Goals programme.
COLIN BAKER LONDON
Source: Airline Business
