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The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) has added its voice to the wave of reaction to a Conservative report on climate change.

A number of potentially controversial proposals were made in the Quality of Life study, including the placement of VAT on short-haul flights and restrictions on growth at London's major airports.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, said that the policy review group had ignored the concerns of the travel industry regarding taxation of domestic air travel and warned of the potential effect of adopting such strategies.

'The plight of many remote communities who have no other option than to take domestic flights is in jeopardy if these proposals are adopted,' he said.

'We sincerely hope that the Quality of Life group's recommendations on fuel duty and VAT on domestic air travel together with those curtailing airport expansion will be dropped by the Conservative party when they come to publish their election manifesto.'

Mr Tanzer said that the best way for aviation to reduce its impact on the environment is to invest in greener planes and take full advantage of the European Emissions Trading Scheme.

He also stressed that the government is expected to collect over £2 billion from air passenger duty this year, which should be used to fund environmental projects.

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