Archived press release

Government consults on the environmental cost of aviation

14 March 2003

The Government today published a discussion paper on how economic measures could be used to encourage the aviation industry to take more account of its environmental impact.

Friends of the Earth aviation campaigner Paul de Zylva commented:

"The Government should have looked at how to make the air industry pay for some of the enormous environmental damage it causes before it began its consultation on building new airports and runways. If it met its full costs, through a tax on aviation fuel for example, there might not be any need to threaten communities all over the country with more blight, noise, traffic and pollution.

"The Government talks about a "sustainable aviation policy". But this consultation exercise suggests that the environment will remain a marginal factor in Government thinking about the future of civil aviation."

Notes

1. Aviation has an enormous impact on the environment. It causes air and noise pollution, extra traffic, habitat destruction, ozone depletion and is the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

It has been estimated that tax exemptions, subsidies and other financial assistance are worth almost ?9 billion to the aviation industry. These include:

• no tax on aviation fuel,
• no VAT on air travel,
• income from duty-free sales,
• a level of Air Passenger Duty that does not properly cover `external costs'.

The UK Government has appealed to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against a case brought by local residents concerning night flights at Heathrow airport [1]. The Government is appealing against the judgement that night flights violated local residents' human rights. A ruling is expected shortly.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust