Pay as (or if) you go

[Rupert_Baehr]

There's a bit of difference between petrol and heating oil. If you were to try to run your car on Avtur, it wouldn't go very well. if you were to try to run an oil-fired boiler on petrol, that would probably be quite spectacular.

 

How much is a litre of heating kerosene? (Avtur without Fuel System Ice Inhibitor in it.)

 

When I used to buy heating oil in the UK, I got together with a group of friends and we ordered it in 15- 20,000 litre lots. - It's cheaper that way.

 

When I bought Avtur, I bought 150-175,000lb at a time. Thats cheaper still.

 

If you're an airline operator, I expect your monthly fuel usage would be really impressive, so presumably the price you'd pay would be 'as cheap as it gets.'

 

How much VAT is there on ship tickets?

How much tax is there on bunker fuel?

 

Same as on aviation fuel.

 

How much VAT do trains pay on the electricity they use? Are train tickets vattable? (Serious questions, I don't know.)

 

If you drive a cer, you're screwed.

 

Departure tax may be a 'good deal' compared to VAT on fuel, but it's an even better deal if you're flying from, say, Schipol.

 

No VAT on the ticket,

No VAT on the fuel

and no Departure tax.

 

The Dutch did have Departure tax - but then they decided it might hurt their tourism and their aviation industry, so they scrapped it.

 

I can see why UK airlines are unhappy. BA and Virgin operate most of their long-haul flights into the UK. Their European competitors tend to use airports at home. Lufthansa and KLM can probably offer a transatlantic flight cheaper than can BA or Virgin, because they don't have to charge (or eat) departure tax. Airline operating margins are extremely slim. Any airline which is faced with (say) a band C charge of £75 per passenger - and which has to compete with other airlines which don't have to charge anything - is quite likely to be upset.

 

The airline departure tax will affect me - but not much. I'm going to Florida and to Mississippi in February. - Partly for 'financial administrative' reasons and partly because we've got the World Ski Championships here in February and if you're not a competitor or a spectator, it would probably be a good idea to be somewhere else.

 

My original plan was to fly Easyjet from Munich to Manchester, stay in an hotel/B&B in Sheff for a few days, then (once I'd acclimatised to the mild weather ) go to MS&FL.

 

Neither my wife nor I is prepared to pay an additional £300 in taxes for the privilege of flying to the US from the UK. We'll fly from Munich.

 

Easyjet lose two fares. (I'm sure they'll survive.)

No British Airline will get my money for the transatlantic legs.

Sheffield will lose a bit of tourism in February.

 

With that alone, the UK economy will probably have lost about £13 17s 6d. ...Well, being realistic (and if I flew with a UK carrier) about £3500.

 

Hardly a fortune.

 

But what if 20, 30 or even 144,000 people do the same thing next year?

 

Over the next couple of years, my son and his family will probably fly from the UK to Florida to see us a couple of times. After that, he may well be living elsewhere. We will be travelling back-and-forward fairly frequently, but I'm going by boat! (My wife can do what she wants:hihi:)

 

The cost of the departure tax to my family is minimal (and it isn't going to make any difference to our travel plans.)

 

Departure tax may make life a bit harder for British Tourists. Isn't Florida the Number One Long-Haul Destination for British tourists? - Long-haul tourists will apy more.

 

Unfortunately (for the UK tourist industry) inbound long-haul tourists will also be asked to pay more for the privilege of going home at the end of their holiday.

 

They're a fickle bunch - and although they do bring their wallets (or credit cards) with them, many of them are a bit careful and they don't like to waste money.

 

If you were Mr & Mrs Elmer G Knoblock, from Peoria, Illinois and you had gone to the travel agent to book your 'once in a lifetime' trip to Yurrp, and you were given the following information, what would you choose to do?

 

"Welcome, folks! good to see you!. You want to go to Yurrp? - I can help you!. Where do you want to go?

 

Paris France?

Berlin Germany?

Rome Italy?

Prague Czechoslovakia (that really <REMOVED> them off ) Czech Republic?

or

London England?

 

Oh by the way, I have to tell you folks, if you go to London England they're going to charge you $120 a head tax to come back home."

Would you go to London, or would you pass on that?

 

I'm amazed!

 

The Government (this one and the previous) keep saying that they're interested in boosting the economy.

 

Tourism is a very important industry in the UK (unless everything's changed completely in the last 15 years.)

 

The airline industry is extremely fragile.

 

A previous government introduced departure tax. This government has just increased it massively.

 

Is nobody interested in the UK's airlines or its tourist industry? Why is everybody (everybody who could do something about it) seemingly so willing to hand massive commercial advantage to the UK's competitors?

 

I don't have any shares in any airline, nor do I have any financial interest in tourism. I do have a number of friends and acquaintances who work - and work very hard - in both.

 

I wasn't surprised when the last government gave advantages to foreign industries, but I'm amazed that the present government seems to want to make it worse.