Prime Minister Erna Solberg defends the air passenger duty, and states that the government will not allow themselves to be pressured by Ryanair.
– No Norwegian airports are being closed down because of a tax on flights, Solberg wrote in a Facebook update Tuesday night.
– In this specific case, it is about Ryanair not wanting to make use of the airport at Rygge, allegedly because of the new tax – a tax that does not otherwise appear to prevent Ryanair from flying to other airports in Norway, she writes.
The Prime Minister regrets that Moss Airport Rygge has made itself so dependent on a single actor who she believes has the habit to put strong pressure on various governments “to escape taxes.”
– This government will not allow itself to be pressured by Ryanair when it comes to applying what the Norwegian parliament has adopted, and which on principle is based on the green shift, writes Erna Solberg.
The controversial tax will be introduced on June 1. If Ryanair really does lay down its base at Rygge, the traffic at the airport will be discontinued on November 1, the board notified Tuesday night.
Ryanair will not comment the Rygge-closure
Ryanair’s communications advisor Hans-Jørgen Elnæs will not comment on the decision by the board at the Rygge civil airport to close the Moss Airport, Rygge.
– We have no comments on this. We have highlighted our stance towards the media in Norway before, and beyond that, we have nothing to add, says Hans-Jørgen Elnæs, Communications advisor in Ryanair, to NRK.
The Irish budget airline Ryanair has announced that they will close down their base at Rygge because of the air passenger tax. Ryanair will announce their plans next week. Without Ryanair, the annual traffic will fall from being at 1.6 million passengers last year, to being under 500,000.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
For a country that depends on flights internally this tax is an idiotic move. If they had a viable alternative it would be excusable, however Norway’s other infrastructure is absolutely terrible, roads and railways are virtually non existent (most 3rd world countries are way ahead of Norway). Most peasants up north probably don’t really care as they have no incentive whatsoever to go anywhere, but I feel for the few souls who do.
Maybe Norway is feeling the decreasing oil prices; since the country isn’t able to produce anything else, they are right to panic.