Flight tax hike plan could harm island, says airlines
Wednesday 1st July 2009, 1:00PM BST.
THE UK Government’s plan to increase air passenger duty could seriously damage Guernsey’s economy, airlines that serve the island have warned.
Flybe, Aurigny and Blue Islands have joined calls for the scrapping of the proposed 10% duty increase scheduled to come into effect in November.
From that date, passengers on all short-haul flights leaving the UK will see duty rise from £10 to £11.
A further increase is also scheduled for November 2010.
Flybe called on the UK Chancellor in March to postpone the increases and did so again yesterday.
‘Unfortunately he ignored us, despite the fact that such a move would have been a tangible stimulus to the hard-pressed tourism industry in the British Isles,’ said Niall Duffy, head of PR at the airline.
‘No one expects the economy to be out of the woods by November, so Flybe’s position remains the same – the tax rise should be shelved.’
In terms of Guernsey, he added: ‘Anything that makes travelling to Guernsey more expensive could potentially damage the island’s economy and nobody wants that at a time when ticket sales to the Channel Islands can benefit from sterling’s weakness against the euro.’
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Shame Flybe doesn’t apply the same logic when they add more and more charges to their fares?
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The UK economy is on the rocks with a mountain of government debt, so does anyone really think that they’ll postpone a tax increase ?
Given the state of the UK government’s finances, this will just be the first step.
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I have just looked to book a return flight from Southampton to Guernsey on Flybe site.
No heavy baggage etc.The taxes and charges alone amount to:- Southampton to Guernsey £30.90 Guernsey to Southampton £11.40
Total of £42.30
I can’t see £1 more having any influence on whether people travel to Guernsey.
I have always wondered how much of this is UK tax and how much is Guernsey tax?
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If Mr Duffy thinks £1 per flight could have a serious effect on the Tourist Industry, I wonder if he ever thinks what damage his company’s outrageous credit card charges might be causing.
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I think you’re right Dave. Although I don’t like giving money to the UK government at any time, I can’t really see an extra £1 on a flight ticket being prohibitive to many people.
If the airlines really think it’s stop people travelling (and will therefore drop their income) perhaps they could all agree to drop their prices by £1 as a courtesy gesture….
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In answer to Paul Le P’s what a load of nonense. Of course it will effect all of us £1 here and another couple of pounds there, before you know it only the well off will be able to afford to travel anywhere! Another tax hike, we should all stop using planes for a while and see what happens, they government depend on us as well to keep paying the taxes. The cost of leaving this Island is becoming more and more expensive and of couse it will effect the tourist industry. Would you come here when you can travel across the Atlantic for almost the same cost? Cheap flybe deals what a laugh!
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Calm down Teresa – nobody is arguing that the cost of travel to Guernsey is disproportionately high and puts some people off. Neither is anyone saying that another stealth tax by the UK government is welcome.
The point I was making is that adding £1 to the cost of a flight will not deter people from travelling who were already planning to do so. Put it another way, how many people do you know who will now cancel their travel plans because they can’t afford to pay an extra £1 to fly?
Unless we all decide to listen to your idea of going on airline strike for a while, I can’t see the majority of tourists or business travellers cancelling their travel plans for the sake of a quid.
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S’interesting. From what I recall, Guernsey has some of the highest airport taxes in Europe.
Take Dave’s comment – £10 tax to land in Southampton… £30 tax to land in Guernsey.
Rather than complaining about the additional £1 to land in the UK, shouldn’t we be asking why it’s three times more expensive to land in Guernsey and the impact this has on tourism??
I guess we’ve got to pay for those firemen somehow eh…..
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On an inter-island return flight between Guernsey and Jersey, a passenger pays £14.83 to land in Jersey and £7.27 to land in Guernsey, a total of a whopping £22.14 per passenger. This is a combination of landing taxes and airport passenger taxes. I believe Jersey’s element to be the most expensive in Europe.
To put it into perspective, on a £70 inter-island return air fare, the airline keeps just £47.86, while the two airports keep £22.14. Taxes make up a remarkable 31.6% of the total fare paid.
Talk about a disincentive for the islands to work more closely together ! Just think how many more people would travel between the islands for sport, leisure and pleasure if landing taxes were abolished for inter-island travel as indeed they are in many other island chains around the world (landing taxes paid only in the first port of entry).
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