Passenger tax

Air tax is being switched from passengers to planes to encourage airlines to operate more efficiently, as part of new measures announced by the Chancellor to tackle climate change.

The aim of the tax change is to stop airlines running half-empty flights by making them more responsible for the environmental costs of air travel, which contributes 6.3% of the UK's carbon emissions.

It is predicted to raise substantially more in tax when it is introduced in 2009, following consultation over linking the duty to distance travelled.

One aviation campaign group said the new focus on distances could herald the arrival of "congestion charging of the skies".

Announcing the move in his pre-Budget report, Alistair Darling ranked climate change alongside world poverty as the two "great challenges for this generation".

But environmental groups said measures like changing air tax, which is being frozen until the new version is introduced, were too small and too slow to tackle global warming.

The reaction from airlines was mixed.

Mike Rutter, chief commercial officer of Flybe, warned that rural communities in Scotland could suffer unless the tax was "tailor-made".

He said: "It is crucial he Mr Darling does not penalise isolated areas, dependent on transport, with a one-size-fits-all tax. He must instead adopt a more tailored approach with the carbon footprint of each aircraft at the front of his mind."

EasyJet said it was the right decision but echoed the call for airlines and the government to devise a new tax reflecting the different pollution levels of different aircraft and different flight distances. Ryanair branded it just "another tax on passengers".

Jeff Gazzard, spokesman for sustainable air travel group, the Aviation Environment Federation, also branded the move "green spin to make passengers feel they are not being taxed".

He said linking the tax to distance travelled was interesting, however. He added: "We could have what you could call congestion charging of the skies where passengers are charged per kilometre. The figure we have worked out is 4p to 7p per kilometre, taking into account factors including the environmental costs, which would mean for a return flight from Glasgow to Luton you would pay around £70 in congestion charging."

Friends of the Earth Scotland, meanwhile, was also critical of the air tax change.

Stuart Hay, head of policy and research, said: "We welcome the airplane duty change, which looks as though it will raise a lot more money to better reflect the environmental cost, but we're disappointed that it the current air tax is being frozen until 2009."

He added: "Overall we're completely underwhelmed by what is in the report and the lack of measures.

"We're really disappointed that there is nothing in the package to help people reduce emissions from their own homes in terms of environmental efficiency."

In other measures, the fuel benefit charge on company car tax was "uprated" to encourage people to drive fewer miles.

The Chancellor also revealed the interim King report, commissioned by Gordon Brown to investigate ways to make road travel carbon neutral within 25 years, which will be followed by the final report next year.

It showed that choosing more efficient models could cut drivers' fuel bills and the environmental costs by up to a quarter.

But again, environmentalists criticised the government over being slow to act.