Ryanair boss says tax old planes, business class
Ryanair boss says tax old planes, business class
By Jason Neely
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The head of Europe's biggest budget airline Ryanair urged Britain to adopt a fresh approach to taxing air travel which would target fuel-guzzling old planes and business class travellers.
"There is a way that tax can be aimed at aviation," Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told reporters on Wednesday.
"You should penalise old aircraft, you should penalise business class, you should penalise connecting travellers," he said, the latter referring to indirect, environmentally inefficient journeys.
He said business class travellers were paying only a fraction of the cost of their expensive tickets, compared with UK plans to charge 10 pounds ($19.38) on Ryanair flights where the average fare is 28 pounds.
O'Leary's comments come after British environment minister Ian Pearson was quoted last week as calling Ryanair "the irresponsible face of capitalism" over its stance on climate change.
O'Leary called for an end to "environmental hysteria" in British politics and media which he blamed for exaggerating the role of aviation in CO2 emissions.
He acknowledged that global warming was an issue but underscored that the industry contributes less than 2 percent of global CO2 emissions.
Environmentalists say the sector's rate of growth will boost that figure and could make it hard for European countries to hit CO2 emission reduction targets.
O'Leary said airlines like his, which fly the newest, most fuel efficient planes, were doing their part to fly cleaner.
He said last month's announcement by British finance minister Gordon Brown that the UK from February would double taxes on air fares was "regressive and ineffective" and said he had written to Brown making this point.
"We've asked for the withdrawal of it and (asking) where he's going to spend the billion (additional pounds in tax revenue) in terms of the environment," O'Leary said.
Environmentalists criticised Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday over his refusal to give up long-haul holiday flights in the interests of saving the planet.
O'Leary said Blair was "absolutely right to keep flying".
He said Ryanair would respond by offering a second ticket free for the first million passengers booking Ryanair flights before Jan. 18 for trips between Jan. 16 and Feb. 8.
