The tax is payable by the relevant airport authority to Revenue which essentially means the airports have the responsibility of collecting the tax from the airlines.
The tax does not apply to passengers under two years of age or to aircraft with 20 or less passengers. There are certain other minor exclusions such as crew, flights to offshore islands or airports with less than 10,000 passengers per annum. The measure is designed to gather an additional €95m in revenue in 2009 and €150m in a full year.
A total of 15 routes from Dublin, including UK destinations in Liverpool, Glasgow, Blackpool, Manchester and Cardiff will be taxed at the lower level of €2 per person.
By way of contrast, just three non Dublin routes from all the other airports in the state will be taxed at the lower rate - Cork to Newquay, Waterford to Galway and Donegal to Glasgow.
Prior to Lenihan's budget speech it had been widely speculated that a travel tax was to be introduced. Speaking on the lunchtime news on RTE Radio 1 today, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary questioned why the tax was being applied to air travel only and not being levied on ferry travel.
On numerous occasions in the recent past, Ryanair has stated that Shannon is one of only two loss making hubs in it's operation. This latest tax which will apply to all Ryanair flights at the airport will now implement a tax that equals or exceeds the average fare on the LCC.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment