Am I the only person confused about the talk of ‘green tax’ – as it stands we, the travel consumer pay air passenger duty, but it was announced this week that in 2009, the new flight tax will be switched from the passenger to the planes.

I’ve read a number of articles on the subject, where some of the content is a little grey, but I get the impression that this is a tax that penalises airlines for flying half empty planes, and not the passenger, so does this mean that we’ll not have to pay APD, and the airlines will pay this additional green tax?

I also don’t understand why the government has given the go-ahead for airport expansions which will increase flights but is on the other hand looking at taking taxes off consumers for flying, it seems hypocritical to me.

Andy Harrison, the chief executive of EasyJet makes a good point when he’s quoted in the Guardian as saying “A tax that penalises families but excludes private jets and charges passengers travelling to Marrakech the same as those travelling to Melbourne, is just plain wrong.”

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