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Civil Aviation Bill

My Lords, I too am delighted to add my voice in support of this amendment, which is an improvement on the one I moved in Committee. Indeed, our debate at this stage is a little like an action replay of the Committee stage where everyone who spoke, with the exception of my noble friend on the Front Bench, was strongly in support of the principle of the levy. The amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, is an improvement on mine because it is more flexible. It makes it clear that if the fund builds up and is not drawn on, there is no need to go on collecting the levy indefinitely, so allowing the fund to reach absurd proportions. This is the right thing to do because it would restore to some extent a measure of fair competition between the reputable travel trade, which is required to operate its own bonding and licensing regime, and the airline operators which offer their customers no such comparable protection. Like the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, my noble friend and the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, I have struggled to understand the logic behind the Government’s decision to oppose the CAA’s proposal. I checked to see how this issue was covered when the Civil Aviation Bill was debated in the other place. But this matter was not properly debated. Indeed, as the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, said, the most thoughtful contribution on the subject of a levy from the Commons came from the Select Committee, which produced a very powerful and unanimous report. You cannot argue that this would place a regulatory burden on the travel business. The travel industry itself would save between £80 million and £100 million a year through switching from the existing bond to a levy. It would also add a financial dynamic to the marketplace as the cost of ATOL bonding places a huge burden on new travel companies that are trying to set up. Also, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, pointed out, it would add almost nothing to the cost of air travel. Already the airlines are piling on to their passengers surcharge after surcharge. At the weekend I did a little test purchasing on the internet. I investigated the cost of flights to and from Malaga with easyJet from Luton. The air fares for flights out and back next week came to £192.48 per person. On top of that ““taxes and charges”” were added, amounting to £9.50. The company then said, very kindly I thought:"““Great value travel insurance from Mondial has been added automatically to your basket for your convenience and peace of mind. We strongly advise you not to travel without travel insurance””." I think that this is called inertia selling. You have to remove the offer from your booking. How much was it? Was it £1? No, it was £10, which is £1 more than it was when I last looked at the site on 8 March. Then, when you come to pay, the great credit card scam slips in. I looked in vain for the suggested message which my noble friend Lord Davies said in his letter to me of 10 January, for which I thank him, the Government were encouraging UK airlines to incorporate in their booking process, making the point that payment by credit card would provide some financial protection. Not a word did I see on the easyJet booking page. Instead, it stated:"““Credit cards incur a percentage charge of 1.95% of the total amount payable, with a minimum charge of £4.95””." Even a debit card transaction carries a surcharge of £1 on the easyJet site.