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Surely a sign of the times... ie as the world slowly starts to go "green" we're going to have to get used to being punished for our location

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The tax will increase the further a passenger flies to help offset carbon emissions. Travel to New Zealand attracts the highest of four levels of the tax because of its distance from the UK. The British government also plans to incrementally increase the tax from $113 to $240 by November 2010.


herald


What should the Govt do, accept the reality of our situation and get with the times (green) or bitch and moan and hope the UK and any others that follow suit will reverse the decision?
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Buy carbon credits that can be used by airlines flying to and from NZ at a discount.
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It is a totally futile idea... Why?

Because it will just give any Airline operating out of France the opportunity to offer flights to Asia/Pacific without the tax.... people will just buy deals where you fly to France and then onto here - but booked as separate trips.
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that work around will only be there for so long I would suggest rob, as other airlines/countries will add similar taxes/surcharges on long haul flights

this is simply an indication of problems we'll soon be encountering
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bob daktari said:
that work around will only be there for so long I would suggest rob, as other airlines/countries will add similar taxes/surcharges on long haul flights


The airlines don't want it - it reduces business. Different countries also have very different airport/departure regulations - some where the commercial operator sets the prices, some where the govt sets the prices, some where each airline negotiates its own (and check-in space).

I'm thinking that since it's not really achieving anything except some thinly veiled distance tax which wont reduce emissions one bit it'll eventually come to nothing. There are so many long-haul departure points within 2 hours of London a $200+ penalty will be too much incentive to fly elsewhere, and one which will be taken up gladly by some airports/countries.
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I can't argue with that Smile
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RobW said:
bob daktari said:
that work around will only be there for so long I would suggest rob, as other airlines/countries will add similar taxes/surcharges on long haul flights


The airlines don't want it - it reduces business. Different countries also have very different airport/departure regulations - some where the commercial operator sets the prices, some where the govt sets the prices, some where each airline negotiates its own (and check-in space).

I'm thinking that since it's not really achieving anything except some thinly veiled distance tax which wont reduce emissions one bit it'll eventually come to nothing. There are so many long-haul departure points within 2 hours of London a $200+ penalty will be too much incentive to fly elsewhere, and one which will be taken up gladly by some airports/countries.


I bet Liecnhenstein is putting out contracts to design and build an uber airport to take advantage as we speak.
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Its a form of protectionism
Countries always blah blah about free trade but in times of stress they alwaysresort to putting up barriers.
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peat said:
Its a form of protectionism

I'm not so sure it is? It doesn't favour local carriers - it favours all countries within x distance of the UK. There has always been an airport tax, it has just now been made variable.
Protectionist isn't quite the right term for it - tax grab wrapped in greenwash does though!
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It is a form of protectionism - it makes foreign holidays more expensive so has a (possibly limited) benefit for local operators.
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bob said:
It is a form of protectionism - it makes foreign holidays more expensive so has a (possibly limited) benefit for local operators.

Kinda - but it's always been there. They've just changed it to be distance based, as opposed to emissions-by-plane-based like they said they would...

In general though I certainly agree that we'll start to see more carbon emission based protectionist behaviour. Which is going to screw us given how poorly we're responding...