Airline pollution tax starts

New rules that come into force tomorrow will mean UK travel firms, including a number in Scotland, will have to pay something toward the environmental damage caused by pollution from air travel for the first time.

Scottish-registered bmi Regional, Loganair and Milburn World Travel will join hundreds of other aviation businesses in the UK and throughout Europe in having to comply with the EU Emission Trading Scheme, which aims to cut climate change pollution from all flights that arrive at or depart from an EU airport.

WWF Scotland welcomed the start of the scheme, which will see airlines having to buy carbon permits for 15 per cent of every flight’s emissions.

However, the environmental group warned that it was only the first step to cleaning up the environmental problems caused by the globalaviation industry.

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