Air Berlin is examining whether the global
distribution systems acted unlawfully by applying the new German departure tax
to bookings with the carrier before giving its authorization, it said on
Thursday. The German government announced the unpopular tax on Sept. 1 and
caused further consternation in the country’s travel industry by saying it
would apply immediately to bookings for departure after Jan. 1, 2011.
The GDSs added the amount of the tax to all
departures starting Sept. 4, even though Air Berlin had not yet announced a
surcharge to passengers to cover the cost of it. “Since Saturday last week,
global flight reservation systems, such as the Amadeus booking system, have
started to apply the air travel tax to Air Berlin flights, even though the
airline company had not taken any initiative in this respect,” the carrier said
in a statement. “The lawfulness of these actions is currently being verified by
Air Berlin.”
However, Amadeus told BTN it had no option
other than to apply the tax from Sept. 4 because that was the date Lufthansa
chose to apply it. “According to International Air Transport Association
regulations, if the national flag carrier decides to accept the tax, then all
the others must follow it,” a spokesman said. “We had to follow the rules.”
German airlines and travel agents are angry
that the federal government gave the industry no time to prepare their systems
for the new tax. Yet the disruption could become even worse, because, despite
its immediate introduction, the tax has not yet been approved by the country’s
parliament. Air Berlin pledged to reimburse the tax if parliament votes it
down.
“The tourism industry is being obliged to impose
the tax even though it has yet become law,” said Torsten Schäfer, director of
communications for the German travel association DRV. “We have never
experienced anything like this before.”
The new tax ranges from €8 to €45
according to the length of the flight.