How High Can Air Travel Costs Go In The Name Of The Environment?
It seems that each new government budget around the world and each new review of the industry all arrive at the same conclusion – air travel costs must rise to offset the damage to the environment and stub the growth in air travel. But how high will air travel costs have to rise before we change our habits?
The bottom line is that air travel is a growth market and there is very little that governments around the world can do to change this. Under the guise of eco-friendly policies we have seen literally billions of pounds of extra tax squeezed from the airline industry with the consumer left to foot the bill at the end of the day. How much of that extra tax income has been spent on the environment?
People need to travel for work, they need to travel for holidays and they want to travel to other places around the world, and no increase in taxes charges will change this attitude – it may well reduce the number of consumers able to afford the increased prices but it will not change attitudes. Perhaps if we saw more of the increased tax income going towards the causes which they are supposed to be supporting, we might be more understanding, but while governments use the airline industry as a “sugar daddy” when they need money, how can the consumer be expected to appreciate this?
There is also a growing ground swell of support for the view that governments encouraged growth in the industry over the last decade to assist with economic growth and tax income. However, while they increase the costs to the airlines in the name of “Green Issues” it is in effect a form of indirect taxation for the consumer – but they would never call it that.