Travel Buyers Applaud Dutch Scrapping Of Airport Tax

Leading travel buyers in the Netherlands have welcomed a decision by the Dutch government to scrap an airport departure tax that was introduced in July 2008. The government announced it would scrap the charge of €11.25 for short-haul flights and €45 for long-haul flights after seeing Dutch airports lose an estimated 1 million passengers to neighboring airports in Belgium and Germany. The resulting loss to the economy of €1 billion considerably outweighed the fiscal revenues of €300 million gained from the tax, claimed the Association of European Airlines.

"We have objected to the tax ever since it was announced, so we are very glad about the news," said Herman Mensink, chairman of Cortas, a grouping of some of the largest buyers of business travel in the Netherlands. "From a corporate perspective, this was an increase in cost that did nothing for the environment. The revenue was supposed to be for environmental protection, but the Dutch government ended up using it for general purposes. We believe much more in emissions trading, which is what the government has announced it will participate in instead. Airlines like KLM are unhappy that the emissions trading scheme is only on a Europe-wide basis, when they are competing on a global playing field, but it is still better than the tax. KLM and Amsterdam's Schiphol airport have suffered considerably."

Ironically, the Dutch authorities made the announcement just days before a new departure tax came into force in Ireland on March 30. Passengers departing from Irish airports will have to pay €2 for flights of up to 300 kilometers and €10 for longer journeys. The tax is expected to raise €150 million per year.

"There is a growing distinction in Europe between governments which see aviation and its customers as a cash cow, and those which recognize that air transport is a national asset, a source of jobs and a driver of economic prosperity," said AEA secretary general Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus.