Families see holiday bills soar as budget airlines raise fares

Warning: Ryanair's Michael O'Leary, left, says
12 April 2012

Families are set to be squeezed by holiday costs this summer as Ryanair became the latest airline to warn of price rises.

The budget carrier said the rising cost of oil would force its air fares up by an average 12 per cent this year, after they increased by a similar amount in the year to April.

The average Ryanair fare for a single journey was £30 in the past year - so with fares 12 per cent higher, a family of four making a return journey would see their bill rise by average £27.

Traditional carriers including British Airways have brought in fuel price surcharges and budget airline easyJet has warned of fare rises.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary today said there would also be fewer flights this winter as the airline cuts overall capacity for the first time. Ryanair plans to ground 80 of its 300 planes in October because of oil prices.

Mr O'Leary blamed a decline in tourism on the Government's decision to increase air passenger duty - the tax on flights to and from the UK.
Travel to Britain fell by one per cent to 7.5 million in the first quarter of this year.

Mr O'Leary said: "Visitor numbers for the UK are plunging, tourism is struggling, the Government should be putting much smaller tax on flights and hotel bedrooms and instead aim at getting visitors here and taxing them whilst they're here.

The Spanish, Irish, Belgians have scrapped their air tax entirely. We've cut capacity in the UK over the past few years, as have other airlines, so visitor numbers are falling in favour of countries that have scrapped these silly taxes."

Air passenger duty has risen three times in as many years. It now costs £12 for a short-haul economy flight to Europe, and the Government is increasing APD on short-haul flights to £16 per person from next April.

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