AIR passengers who can no longer fly from the North-East to London are victims of skyhigh government taxes, MPs were told yesterday.

Air passenger duty (APD) is forcing airlines to axe routes, while rail travel enjoys “unfair”

subsidies, claimed Peel Airports Group, the owner of Durham Tees Valley Airport.

In evidence to an inquiry by the transport select committee, Peel said bmi’s decision to stop flights from Durham Tees Valley to Heathrow was a direct consequence of a “doubling” of APD.

It protested the tax burden would soar again when the air industry was included in the EU’s emissions trading scheme from 2012, to tackle global warming. And, on the same day the Government announced it will take over the East Coast rail line from National Express, it cried foul over subsidies handed to the rail industry.

The claim will outrage environmental groups, who complain it is the airlines that enjoy a hidden subsidy, paying no tax on aviation fuel.

But Peel told MPs that APD was scheduled to rise by up to 113 per cent in November this year – adding about £40 on a long-haul flight.

Meanwhile, passenger numbers had already fallen by 11 per cent at Durham Tees Valley last year, with similar declines at other regional airports.

Neil Pakey, Peel’s deputy chief executive, said: “We recently lost the bmi service from Durham Tees Valley.

“If you look at the level of the taxation that the airline was paying on the route, that was obviously one of the factors.”

The group calculated the combined tax burden from APD and the emission trading scheme at £3.6bn by 2012 – far higher than the “environment cost” of flying, which it put at £2bn.

The hearing followed the launch of The Northern Echo’s Keep the Region Flying campaign, to highlight the growing threat to short-haul flights into London’s international airports.

That campaign has also focused on the need to “ringfence” Heathrow’s landing slots for regional flights and for lower landing charges from regional airports.

Ministers recently delayed the conclusions of a Government inquiry – taking in the economic impact of losing an air link to London – until the autumn.