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RYANAIR WON’T HAVE to pay the government an estimated €12 million for air travel taxes it had previously been ordered to hand over.
The decision came after the low-cost carrier complained to the European Commission that the government’s 2009 decision to introduce a two-tier “air travel tax” amounted to illegal state aid.
The tax was set at €2 per passenger for all flights taking off and landing within 300km of Dublin Airport, and €10 for longer-distance routes.
Ryanair claimed the rule was unfair because it advantaged airlines like Aer Lingus and Aer Arann that carried more short-haul passengers, and the flat rate was also worth a bigger share of the ticket price for budget carriers.
The commission ruled the tax was illegally biased towards domestic flights – but it ordered all airlines to pay the higher €10 rate for every passenger they had carried over a two-year period.
Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus fought that verdict in the EU’s general court, which today threw out the commission’s decision.
No back-taxes
The court said it was wrong to automatically assume that airlines benefited to the tune of a flat amount on every passenger and the commission should instead have worked out exactly how much advantage of the lower rate was passed on to customers.
It also said it wasn’t possible for the airlines to “retroactively” recover €8 from every passenger whose ticket had been priced at the lower rate.
The Irish government changed the tax in March 2011 to be a flat €3 for all passengers regardless of how far they were travelling. It was axed altogether in April last year.
Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said the airline welcomed the ruling, which meant the airline wouldn’t have to pay the government about €12 million it would have owed for the higher tax rate.
So why does Knock still charge passengers €12?
Airports are allowed charge a levy of their own, usually in order to fund expansion or renovation.
Holy water in the toilets?
A Development Fee of €10 is charged to all departing passengers from Ireland West Airport Knock aged 12 years and over. This is a service charge which the Airport charges for the use of its facilities and as a contribution toward infrastructure developments amount other services, usually It is included in the “Taxes and Charges” http://www.irelandwestairport.com/airportguide/airportdevelopmentfee.aspx
Perhaps they should be prohibited from charging a levy of their own. A level playing field in light of this ruling would benefit everyone.
In fairness, €12 is a bargain to get out of knock.
I’d pay €100 to get out of the kip
To fund the once-off Aer Lingus direct flight of Pilgrims from New York this summer? That flight can’t be cheap for anybody concerned!
For the holyness , sure dont u no the water in knock
Cured fr.jack himself
Good god…i hope its not becAuse off the holy water
It’s really not like our government to have 1 Fook up after another…
It was actually FF who messed up and FG changed to a flat rate before scrapping it.
Not to mention the European Commission’s lazy ruling.
And how much did the FG government spend on fees before losing this case.
I mean, it’s not as though FG are doing anything different from FF, is it?
If Michael O’Leary got into politics, this would be a different country. He would sort out the lot of them up there trying to bleed the country dry
Yes and maybe we would be working for his low pay way of life too.
On the contrary, it’s people who think that running a country is like running a business that have damaged this country the most in recent years.
So I assume aer lingus and Ryanair will refund me the tax I paid to them that they never passed on.. I also assume I will have to go through the small claims court to get the money back as I have travel 39 + times … ching ching
Ryanair comparable *family friendly*flights cost double that of June 2013 prices when the tax was included to flights . ryanair are ripping off ppl and now have saved 12 million from tax payers . Michael o Leary propaganda using his family to make money family friendly my a** . MoL only believes in profit. He should donate that money to #jakeslegacy and make a difference
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