UK Airlines Receive $20bn Subsidy

The British Government is being urged to abolish a $20bn-a-year “hidden subsidy” to the airline industry, which is due to the fact airlines do not pay fuel duty or VAT on the fuel for its planes.

“This is a massive public subsidy for an industry that is one of the fastest-growing contributors to climate change,” argues the Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, the party’s transport spokesman, “Ordinary motorists continue to pay fuel tax, so why should aviation continue to be exempt?”

Mr Baker called on the Government to push for an international agreement to tax aviation fuel to put the industry on a “level playing field” with other modes of transport. The figures show that the amount of aviation fuel used in the UK has risen by 50 per cent – from 8.45 million tonnes to 12.69 million tonnes – since 1997.