Higher Airport Taxes on Cards for Travellers flying from London

Proposals are being aired for charging higher airport taxes for passengers catching their flights from London Heathrow and other South-East England airports. The objective is to decongest these overcrowded airport terminals.

Media reports have been trickling in that passengers using London Heathrow Airport as well as other South-East England airports will have to pay higher airport taxes on their air tickets. These government proposals are an attempt to discourage travellers from using the already overcrowded airport terminals in the region. Plans are being studied by the Coalition government for charging a lower tax on travel from regions like Northern England but higher on the South-East airports. In fact, besides tax increase, there are also plans of using Birmingham as a London overspill airport and stripping almost hundreds of European and domestic flights.

Impact of the Move

The move will go a long way in decongesting the over clogged South-East airports. Presently, London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the world and almost eighty percent of the UK flights are served by the South-East airports. The immense traffic at London Heathrow also makes the airport a fertile hunting ground for cheap flights, when travellers book their air tickets. Plans for overhauling taxes are being drawn up by the Treasury and a consultation is expected to be launched in the March Budget.

Few Reactions on the Move

Taxing travellers who use Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted is quite likely to ruffle some feathers. Many passengers feel that they are already being overtaxed, given the state of facilities at the airport. Some of the regional airport operators have claimed that uniformly levying higher taxes will prompt the bigger airlines to pull out of their airports and further focus upon the South Eastern airports. Quite a few of the bigger airlines are also popular amongst travellers because of cheap flight options.

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