Will Holidays Become Unaffordable in 2011?

Air port taxes make a larger chunk of the total fare one has to pay for flights from UK to worldwide destinations. For instances, you might have come across adds were it is advertised, flights to Dubai from 99 GBP. Very recently in some generous offers for cheap flights to Miami, by one of the popular airlines the flight fares were quoted as only 75 GBP. Yet, we always have to pay something above 300 / 400 and at times of peak season even above a 1000 GBP. The reason most often, is the high airport taxes. If you have ever wondered and asked for a “fare break down” you may already know that after break down most fares look like this:

Fare 75 GBP + Tax 141 GBP + Atoll 3.5 GBP = 219.50

Air port taxes are mandatory, no one can argue about it. But how they will be affecting the air travel costs, can have a much larger impact on country’s economy especially where tourism is a secondary revenue generator.

UK’s largest airlines and five star alliance airlines, totally agree that this tax rise will affect tourism as air travel adversely in the economies still crawling out of the biggest global recession. Julie Southern, Virgin Atlantic’s chief commercial officer said:

Holidays are an essential part of our lives and are valued even more in these difficult times. With passengers now being asked to pay up to 10 times more tax since the air duty’s introduction, the annual family holiday will become unaffordable for many.

Some recent reports say that many British Families may have to pay an extra 100 GBP ‘airport tax’ for overseas trips. Experts say that this will make family travels nearly unaffordable. The reasons are that UK Air port Passenger Duty is raised by 50% for some destinations; this is the second highest rise within two years.

In 2011, the biggest challenge for flights from UK will be to offer fares that still remain affordable when taxes are added. It is speculated that not all airlines will be able to do so. Rather, there will hardly be any airline that can offer cheap flight fares once airport taxes are added.