The Traveller's Magazine
Ryanair’s outspoken CEO, Michael O’Leary, is speechless. There’s nothing he or anyone can do about Germany’s decision to raise air travel taxes forcing Ryanair and others to cut back on routes.
Ryanair announced that it would make cuts to its German routes in 2011 because of rising passenger taxes in Germany. Which airports and routes will be affected?
- Berlin
- Bremen
- Dusseldorf Weeze
- Frankfurt Hahn
We’ve written about this German passenger tax before but the more we hear about it the more we see it’s not the “ecological” fee we thought it was. The newly imposed €8 tourist tax (a one-way ticket to making Germany the most uncompetitive tourist destination) was first proposed as a way to raise funds to fight climate change, now it’s all about budget.
414 flights will be ditched from Ryanair’s 2011 summer flight schedule. Ryanair is not the only one affected. This hike in passenger taxes will likely cause Germany to experience a loss of air traffic in general, decline in tourism and eventually job cutbacks. Ryanair’s fleet currently stationed in Germany will be moved to surrounding bases instead of taxing them.
Is this newly imposed tax doing more bad than good?
Experts from Germany’s airline association also added that they expect 10,000+ jobs to move from Germany to abroad and a drop in passenger volume of 5 million per year thanks to the tax imposed to close the budget gap. Passengers will be taxed anywhere from €8-€45 on top of their flight fare depending on length of flight.
Img: franzblogtube / Flickr cc.
