Easyjet CEO Andy Harrison was also making some good points in an opinion piece in today's FT on the recent rise in air ticket taxes levied by the UK in this year's budget, namely that the carbon costs are now much smaller than the tax collected through APD. The emissions may not be the only negative externality of the airline industry - I live directly under the flight path to City airpoort, but both the small cost of the emissions and the tiny proportion of the total greenhouse gases they account for would both push air travel far down the list of priorities for action against climate change.
A poor example is the £2.4bn (€3.6bn) that the UK government collects annually from air passenger duty. APD provides no incentive for airlines to operate the cleanest aircraft; it completely omits air freight and private jets; the proceeds are not allocated to any scheme to improve the environment; and it is disproportionate – on a UK domestic return flight, the £20 APD is now 25 per cent of the average fare and about 10 times the cost of offsetting the carbon emitted on an EasyJet flight.
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