AIRPORT expansion has become a very hot issue. Airlines are major carbon dioxide emitters, so it is highly appropriate that we know just what subsidy they get when the aviation kerosene they use is not taxed. I asked Treasury ministers to say what they estimate to be the cost of not taxing this fuel in the financial year 2002-03.
John Healey, the Treasury minister with responsibility for transport taxes, replied that virtually all aircraft on scheduled flights within the UK and on the majority of international commercial flights use aviation turbine fuel (AVTUR) – a heavy hydrocarbon oil. He went…
