Editorial: Flight tax removed but it still costs us

Passengers departing Rotorua Airport will not have to pay a separate departure levy from February 1.

A change in the way departure taxes are charged at Rotorua Airport is welcome news.

If you're like me, you'll always be a little miffed at having to hand over $5 every time you fly out of Rotorua on the domestic service.

For some reason, the $15 international departure tax - despite being three times the cost - doesn't grate as much.

No matter how many times I've flown out of Rotorua, I always forget the $5 fee is looming.
You get to check in, no doubt a bit rushed and stressed, and are reminded by the friendly
Air New Zealand staff to pop around the corner to pay your $5.

It can sometimes be another queue, another Eftpos transaction and basically another few minutes that's risking you not making it to the Robert Harris in time to get a coffee before your flight is called.

Thankfully, passengers departing Rotorua Airport will not have to pay a separate departure levy from February 1.

Passengers will still have to pay, but it will instead be built into the airline ticket price.
The controversial levy was introduced in 2002 to help pay for the upgrade of the airport.

I remember it well, I covered the stories for this newspaper explaining the levy to locals.

I note now it is described as being brought in to fund "the ongoing development of the airport".

While a time limit was never set on the development levy being charged, locals assumed it would be until the "development" was completed. We are now an international airport, the terminal looks completed and the carpark has been improved.

Regardless the argument of whether we should still be forking out for a development levy, perception is everything. Locals and visitors are likely to feel less irked about the fee if it's built into the ticket prices.

In the meantime, it would be nice to know when the "ongoing development" will be over so we can put that $5 towards a muffin to go with the coffee we will now have time to buy.