If you force budget airlines to pay the real environmental cost of their flights, the poor will be disadvantaged – unable to make that one trip to the sun that makes the rest of the year bearable: so the story goes.
But new research puts lie to that one – because as we all know it costs plenty to travel, even if the flight costs nothing.
So says a definitive survey:
The CAA will announce that the social profile of air passengers has hardly changed in the past ten years, during which Ryanair and easyJet have grown from tiny operations to become two of the biggest airlines in Europe.
The survey will strengthen the case made by David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, for imposing green taxes on flights.
The CAA wants to dispel the belief that budget airlines have made air travel more inclusive and that raising taxes on flights would disproportionately affect people on low incomes.
Ryanair sells millions of return tickets costing less than £40, but the poor still cannot afford all the other costs of a foreign trip, such as hotels and meals, the survey says.
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