Airline levy could help poor

The San Antonio News.Net
Friday 3rd July, 2009

US and some European travellers have been asked to contribute to the fight against AIDS and malaria by paying more for airline tickets.

The scheme, which is likely to be channeled through airline Internet sites, will involve automatically donating, but with an opt-out alternative, when an airline ticket is bought.

The scheme to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for healthcare in poor countries has already been launched in France where the scheme has made nearly $1 billion over three years.

No other large economy has followed France’s lead in levying a health tax on airline tickets, although Japan is believed to be considering it.

The scheme is run by charity Unitaid, which hopes to sign up a total of 40 countries to its airline tax scheme.

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