A new 'green' airline tax, introduced by the Chancellor Gordon Brown,
comes into effect today. The increase in Air Passenger Duty aims to
reflect the damage caused by the aviation industry on the environment.
Gordon
Brown was heavily criticised by the airline industry, which called
him 'greedy' and asked him to immediately scrap the new charges.
How
much will it cost you?
* Economy - short haul: £10.00
* Economy
- long haul: £40.00
* Business / 1st class - short haul: £20.00
* Business / 1st class - long haul: £80.00
Environment
groups welcomed the increase and urged the Government to do more to
curb rising emissions from airlines and to scrap plans to allow new
runways to be built.
===== IN RELATED NEWS =====
Government
figures revealed that energy savings made by householders are being
wiped out by increased air traffic.
Final figures for the year
2005 revealed that carbon emissions fell by 0.1% on the year before.
While householders cut their emissions by 4.6%, carbon emissions from
aircrafts went up with 7%.
While Gordon Brown's 'green' airline
tax may help to revert this trend, this is an embarrassment for the
Labour Government, as the UK emits more carbon now than when
Labour came into power in 1997.
