 Newquay passengers will pay the surcharge at new ticket machines |
A new air service from Newquay Airport begins on Thursday, even though the airline running it says it objects to the airport's new �5 departure tax. Monarch Scheduled will provide a link between Newquay and continental Europe.
The surcharge is being imposed by the county council to help reduce a deficit of about �1m a year.
Monarch complained publicly about the introduction of the fee but said its plans for the route to Malaga in Spain were too far advanced to alter them.
Newquay Airport is the first in the UK to bring in a local departure tax, or "airport development fee", as it is called. Adult passengers have to pay �5 on departure.
Surcharging problems
Ryanair objected so strongly that it announced it was cancelling half its flights to and from the airport.
However, the ticket machines in the check-in area that collect the departure surcharge have had teething problems.
They were meant to start taking money on Saturday, but have been experiencing technical difficulties.
The county council's Transportation Department is looking into what went wrong and hopes to be able to levy the charge by the end of the week.
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