German departure tax starts

Departing airline passengers out of Germany will have to pay a new tax on flights booked from 1 January 2011 with immediate effect.  The Federal Transport Minister admitted that the announcement was designed to stop travellers taking advantage by booking ahead.  Transit passengers will not be punished (another loss to UK airlines – see last week's COMMENT).  The tax is subject to Parliamentary approval.

Travellers will pay €8 for flights within Europe, €25 to medium haul destinations and €45 to long haul destinations regardless of the class.  On German domestic flights VAT is levied too (€9.52 in total). www.airberlin.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum