Government plans to double UK taxes on air travel were slammed this week by UK airlines venting their fury over the decision, saying the flat rate would remove the incentive to fly greener aircraft .
Britain's Chancellor Gordon Brown said in his pre budget report he would double taxes on air travel with the aim of combating climate change.
The basic charge on short haul flights will rise to £10 and that on long haul to £40, with both levies doubled for business and first class flights .
Low cost airline easyJet criticised the announcement saying, "Aviation generates a vast amount of economic wealth, yet CO2 accounts for only 1.6 per cent of global greenhouse gases."
"His proposal bears none of the hallmarks of an efficient environmental tax and all the hallmarks of a chancellor keen to raise stealth taxes," it added.
Both easyJet and Virgin Atlantic called for the aviation industry to be involved in emissions trading rather than increasing taxes .
Andy Harrison, easyJet Chief Executive said, "A much better way is to bring it into the European Emissions Trading Scheme, which will put aviation on the same footing as other carbon emitting industries."
British Airways also had their say, calling the tax ‘an extremely blunt instrument’ and said it would not benefit the environment in any way.
Chairman of the company, Martin Broughton said in a speech on Wednesday that BA would pass the tax increases on to passengers.
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