Press Release Archive Official press releases from FlyingMatters

Reacting to statistics published by the Department for Transport on attitudes to air travel and the environment, showing that the proportion of people willing to pay extra fell from 69% in 2006 to 60% in 2010 among those who do believe that air travel harms the environment and from 50% to 40% among those who have flown in the last 12 months, Brian Wilson, Chairman of FlyingMatters said:

“Just as the public’s appetite for paying more for flying is waning, the Government plan to push ahead with eye-watering rises in the tax on flying so that from November a family of four will pay up to £340 in tax alone. This will push flying out of the reach of many ordinary families who only fly occasionally.”

The Farnborough Airshow is a crucial reminder of how important the aerospace industry is to the UK economy, said Brian Wilson, chairman of the pro-aviation pressure group, FlyingMatters.

Immediate Release – 22 June 2010
Hidden hikes in flight tax will “strangle inward investment” – FlyingMatters
Reacting to the Chancellor’s decision to press ahead with November’s punitive hikes in flight tax of over 50 per cent, Brian Wilson, Chairman of FlyingMatters, the national campaign for flying, said:
“These hikes in flight tax will kill off any prospect [...]

The new Government has been warned that it would be “crazy” to further increase the taxes on flying at a time when the industry is reeling from a series of body-blows – including the volcanic ash crisis.

Brian Wilson, the former Energy Minister who chairs the pressure group Flying Matters, said: “There is talk of the Tory-LibDem coalition doubling taxation on aviation because it is one of the easier things for them to agree on. They must be told that this is not a victimless offence but an absolutely crazy assault on one of Britain’s most important industrial sectors, both for manufacturing and services.”

FlyingMatters has welcomed the Government response to the Transport Committee’s report on the future of aviation.

A new survey conducted in the ten most diverse constituencies in Britain, the majority held by Labour, has revealed that the hikes in flight tax will hit the poorest and ethnic minorities hardest.
Over 60 % of those in the lowest social bands and two thirds of ethnic minorities said that the rises which came into [...]

Commenting on the Transport Select Committee’s report on The Future of Aviation, Brian Wilson, Chairman of FlyingMatters said:
“The Committee has clearly taken a cool-headed and balanced look at the evidence and reached the conclusion – like the vast majority of the flying public – that aviation has a vital economic and social role to play [...]

Three quarters of voters in key marginal seats believe that the tax on flying is just another ‘stealth’ tax and even more were unaware that there are huge hikes in the tax planned for this November and next year. 89 per cent of voters were unaware of the planned rises and a huge majority (70 per cent) think that the rises are unfair.