TAX NEWS - JUNE 2010

German Tax: German airlines down with air travel tax on tap

Shares of Air Berlin and Deutsche Lufthansa declined on Tuesday, with Air Berlin down 1.3% and Deutsche Lufthansa down 2.6%.

"Germany announced that it will introduce a new tax on air travel," noted analysts at Commerzbank. "As the new tax will only be introduced in Germany, the charge will result in a clear disadvantage for the German aviation sector which will in particular hurt competitiveness in connecting flights," they said.

German air travel tax is estimated at between 8 euros to 10 euros per departure ticket and is expected to generate tax revenues for Germany of around 1 billion euros a year, they added.