AIR PASSENGERS will be penalised with “frequent flyer” taxes under Conservative proposals, which will be regarded by the airlines as a declaration of war.

The new tariffs will be based on either the number of flights taken or the annual distance travelled. Families who take just one package holiday a year will be protected, but for subsequent flights the tax will escalate so that passengers pay more the further they travel.

The Conservatives will also consult on whether to introduce further taxes, such as applying Vat to domestic flights or introducing fuel duty. The airline industry is currently exempt from the levies imposed on motorists for petrol and diesel.

These measures would replace air passenger duty, which is charged at £10 for short flights, rising to £80 for long-haul first-class flights.

Airlines could also be hit by a flight tax, levied on each plane journey, which the Tories say would reward cleaner engines and deter carriers from operating planes half empty.

But the party acknowledges that these costs are likely to be passed on to passengers by way of higher ticket prices.

In a leaked copy of the Tory plans, obtained by The Sunday Times, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, says he wants the tax system to be rebalanced away from jobs and families and towards polluters — “pay as you burn, not pay as you earn”.

He writes: “The current system of aviation taxation is fundamentally flawed. In particular, air passenger duty is not directly linked to carbon emissions and provides no incentives for airlines to use more fuel-efficient aircraft. Even the government admit that it is a ‘blunt instrument’.” The bold measures, which could provoke a backlash from frequent flyers, such as business travellers, city hoppers, sports teams and even MPs themselves, are designed to prove that the Tories under David Cameron are serious about cutting greenhouse gases.

A consultation document on aviation tax will be unveiled at a “green summit” hosted by the Tory leader, who will be joined by Sir Terry Leahy, the Tesco chief executive, and other leading businessmen.

The Tories’ approach on air tax is at odds with Gordon Brown, who insists that it is more effective to secure international agreements on cutting emissions from planes, for example, by bringing air travel into the scope of the European Union emissions trading scheme.

The chancellor, who is likely to replace Tony Blair in the summer and face Cameron at the next general election, argues that simply introducing domestic taxes unilaterally would be difficult to enforce and would disadvantage the airline industry.

Osborne said yesterday further taxes were necessary to cut UK aviation emissions, which he said were on track to account for a quarter of all discharges by 2050. He promised, however, that the extra revenue would be used to cut taxes elsewhere.

Osborne said: “With these proposals we are prepared to take tough, long-term decisions to turn rhetoric about tackling climate change into reality.

“We won’t shy away from difficult decisions. We are saying taxation on aviation needs to rise, but crucially we want taxes to be directed at dirty planes and frequent flyers. And we don’t want to tax people out of their one package holiday a year.”

But a Labour source said: “These policies would raise vast amounts of extra revenue but with no discernible impact on global emissions from air travel. The Tories have had two years to come up with a coherent policy on green taxes and it beggars belief that this is the result.”

Frances Tuke, of the Association of British Travel Agents, said: “Any tax will put a damapener on fun. Passengers don’t want to be unfairly taxed.”

But the plan was welcomed by environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth. A spokesman said: “It’s important someone is looking at this because we are expecting the government to leave out CO2 emissions for international flights.”

Cameron has recruited Al Gore, the failed Democratic presidential candidate and environmental campaigner to his cause. Despite being on apparent opposite sides of the political spectrum, the Tory leader has pulled off a coup by arranging for Gore to address the shadow cabinet this week.

Cameron approached the former deputy to Bill Clinton on a visit to London last year and asked him to meet his team. To the surprise of the Tory team, Gore unexpectedly rang Cameron last week and said he would be “delighted” to attend. Gore’s environmental film, An Inconvenient Truth, won the best documentary award at last month’s Oscars.

Meanwhile, Brown will this week deliver a speech on the environment, and David Miliband, the environment secretary, will launch the government’s climate change bill.

Writing in The Sunday Times today, Miliband says the bill will allow the government to extend carbon trading schemes across the economy. “Each of us could have a personal carbon allowance, with those whose carbon footprint is less than their allowance able to sell their allowances to those who need more,” he says. He adds that people should accept the reality that nuclear power should be part of the “energy mix” of the future.

Times Recommends

• Computer warriors pay for far-away mercenaries
• Divorce rate falls to 26-year low
• Boris adviser says Olympians tainted with blood