Iberia not to seek increased Spanish airport tax for bookings before July 1

Leading Spanish carrier Iberia recently announced it will not seek the increased tax made recently for departures from Spanish airports, on the condition that the customers had booked Iberia flights tickets before July 1, 2012.

The airline in a statement said that the tax charged for departures were recently increased by the Spanish government across all the airports in the country effective from July 2, 2012.

The government had to increase the taxes because of the huge budget deficit that Spain is currently battling as also the austerity measures introduced lately.

Another Spanish carrier Ryanair has made it clear that it is not ready to share the increased tax burden and has decided to pass on the increased charges to its passengers. This is applicable even for those flights booked before July 1 and for travel after July 2, 2012. The airline stated that it will debit the cards used by passengers when they made the bookings. However, it will refrain from charging only when the customers choose to cancel their flights and seek refund by July 13, 2012.