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13th Jun 2005, 12:42
G8 wants tax on airline tickets to help poor
Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change.
Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid.
Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as £1.
The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
The plan emerged in the text of the communiqué issued after the two-day meeting in London but was initially overshadowed by the high-profile agreement by the G8 to wipe out $40bn (£22bn) of Third World debt.
The G8 backed a pilot project, led by France and Germany, for a "contribution of air travel tickets to support specific development projects."
Hans Eichel, the German Finance Minister, said: "The air ticket tax ... is now on the working programme of the G8. No one in the G8 has said anything against it."
Gordon Brown is understood to have consented to the new plan, seen as a sign of a trade-off in exchange for France and Germany dropping their initial opposition to the terms of his debt cancellation plan.
Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change.
Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid.
Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as £1.
The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
The plan emerged in the text of the communiqué issued after the two-day meeting in London but was initially overshadowed by the high-profile agreement by the G8 to wipe out $40bn (£22bn) of Third World debt.
The G8 backed a pilot project, led by France and Germany, for a "contribution of air travel tickets to support specific development projects."
Hans Eichel, the German Finance Minister, said: "The air ticket tax ... is now on the working programme of the G8. No one in the G8 has said anything against it."
Gordon Brown is understood to have consented to the new plan, seen as a sign of a trade-off in exchange for France and Germany dropping their initial opposition to the terms of his debt cancellation plan.