Cutting air passenger duty to help Flybe could wreck UK carbon plan

Frequent flyer levy and cheaper trains would help with environmental pledges - but neither is plannedTravel from Exeter to Manchester next Wednesday, and a round trip with the airline Flybe returning the next day would cost you ?68, of which air passenger duty amounts to ?26. A train ticket for the same journey would cost ?141.This kind of price disparity between domestic flights and rail journeys has been the norm for years, the result of under-investment in railways and rail fares allowed to rise at rates much higher than inflation, while regional airports and airlines receive publicly funded incentives and tax breaks on fuel. It comes despite the government's much-vaunted green policies, and its repeated goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Continue reading...