China Vs EU
 

To early to tell how this may change the larger game?

BBC News - Top China airlines to ignore EU carbon tax, body says

Will be dam interesting times ahead for some in the trade....... :confused:

I think its fantastic that China has come out with this. I only hope that the US and other countires that were objecting join forces with them and take the same stance.

At the end of the day this is just yet another tax that the poor punter will have to absorb, levied on the easy pickings of Airlines as it would be impossible to impose on car users.

GO China GO!

EU could easily impose a carbon tax on motorists, simply put the price up at the pump.
Damn sight easier than imposing it on the airlines, either buy fuel and pay tax or don't drive - political willpower and self-preservation due to piss poor timing are the only things currently stopping this.

200 bucks on China. The Game is up for the EU and the only thing left for them is to try to tax themselves out of their own incompetence.

Ryanair has an opinion
 

“At a time of deep recession,” O’Leary said, “only the European Commission could invent something as stupid as this.”

Dunno, over here car users pay around a 65 euro cent energy tax (aka carbon tax) per liter gasoline. It is a bit less for diesel (47 cent). Quite a bit more expensive than what airlines have to pay.

Since fuel prices are going up five times faster than the average inflation for the last 10 years the politicians had to stop any further increase in carbon tax or they would have lost the next election. Airlines are a cheap target though, anybody knows they just absolutely pollute the world, don't they? Therefore it is the second tax in two years that supposedly helps the environment which applies to airlines. I surely hope the chinese and american airlines can win this war, it would in turn help our airlines over here as well.

Can´t say I´d agree with many things O'Leary says, but this time he hit the nail squarely...

Saving the planet my ar$e, like all "green" taxes it's just another way of emptying wallets and on top of APD it is adding insult to injury.

Good on China though, I hope the US follows them - forcibly.

BTW, will Cruise Liners be affected?

British Govt have already admitted APD is only used to plug their deficit. If O' Leary is anti EU why are his aircraft carrying pro EU propaganda? As my old boss used to say follow the money.

O'Leary can't be anti-EU as that's what has allowed his airline based in a green bog to fly between any cities it chooses in the "union".

He probably just sees the European Commission as a gassing shop of overpaid civil servants who couldn't have run an airline even in the bad old days of bilateral fare fixing.

Is it fair that Chinese airlines have to pay for emissions produced during the whole flight and not only the distance covered in European airspace?

I think that's the whole point the airlines are trying to say. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind paying for the "carbon tax" if only it was for the portion they fly over the EU and not the total flight.

I'm not one to support new taxes generally, but I have to say currently flying is too cheap. Car fuel prices are taxed to hell, why should air travel - a fairly polluting business in its own right - be exempt?

IMO flying is currently too cheap if you take everything into account, sorry for everyone whose job is involved. Since a tax should apply to all airlines equally it should simply raise ticket prices a little. And it'd still be cheap if you look at the amt of fuel burned.

That said calling it a green eco tax is of course BS and they should call a cat a cat.

Indeed this new tax is unbelievably stupid thing for today. I don't believe in any kind of this "global warming" rubbish.

JCviggen
Do you really assume the money collected by means of this new tax will be spent for sake of environment?! My experience by no way could confirm this.

Would he not be correct then? :}

Not at all, but neither is the insane amount of tax levied on other fuels. Hence why I said they should just have called it what it is (a regular tax to plug their budgets)

Even in cases of a road tax levied on registered cars, often very little of the road tax goes towards maintaining roads. Par for the course...

Hence why I said they should just have called it what it is (a regular tax to plug their budgets)

It would be at least honestly.
IMHO ticket prices don't look so cheap.

I was thinking exactly the same.

This tax is madness and will do nothing positive for the economy.