:: Untaxed fuel gives UK airlines £9 billion a year subsidy ::

A report by the UK government's Environmental Audit Committee has said that to reduce the environmental impact of air transport an emissions charge should replace Air Passenger Duty and Value Added Tax should be added to the cost of domestic flights.

Airlines currently pay no tax on aviation fuel - whereas 80% of the price motorists pay for their fuel goes into the Chancellor of the Exchequer...

Compared to road transport, the absence of a fuel tax + VAT on receipts means that the aviation industry currently receives subsidies in excess of £9bn and has little incentive to drastically reduce it's CO2 emissions...

In the UK, airline passengers are anticipated to increase from 180 million now to 500 million by 2030. This growth in passengers will result in more airports and runways being built, undo emission cuts in other energy intensive sectors of the economy, and may incur considerable economic costs as a result of exacerbating climate change...

Airlines would understandably prefer to be left to trade their emissions on the international market or to plant trees in order to temporarily soak up their carbon... whereas the Council for the Protection of Rural England has welcomed the conclusions of this report as a breath of fresh air and said that the forth-coming Air Transport White Paper will be a key test of the government's commitment to the environment...