That has set off alarm bells for airline lobby groups and tourism authorities in sunny European countries that rely on air travel.
“For a politician to say we’re doing this for the benefit of the environment… that’s complete nonsense. It’s a lie,” Walsh, director general of the airline lobby group IATA, told POLITICO.
Former Aer Lingus and British Airways chief executive Walsh warns: ‘It’s almost impossible to make any money’ [from taxes] Flow back to industry to improve environmental performance. He added that the only impact of the new tax would be to make it harder for people to fly, reducing aircraft load factors rather than emissions and keeping the habits of the biggest polluters unchanged.
Mr Walsh said any new flight tax “is just about generating revenue. Will it stop anyone from flying privately? It won’t stop it, you won’t see a change in behavior and that’s the problem.”
angry sun spot
Hoekstra’s pledge to tax aviation particularly angered Mediterranean countries that rely on tourism.
On December 10, at a Council meeting with Economy Ministers, the countries of the South reiterated their rejection of the kerosene tax proposed by the European Commission as part of the reform of the energy tax directive.
