Ryanair calls for end to 'eco-looney' tax The International Air Transport Association has previously estimated that ETS could cost airlines around the world £1 billion - although that figure will fall sharply if non-EU airlines remain exempt. The extra cost is already being passed on to consumers. Ryanair, for example, currently charges all passengers an "ETS levy" of 50p per return flight. The airline carries around 80 million passengers each year, meaning it will collect around £20 million from the fee in 2012. Its first annual ETS bill will be payable in April 2013, although Mr McNamara said how much that bill will be, and how it will be collected by the EU, remains "a mystery." The cost of flying long-haul from Britain has already soared in recent years, following sharp increases to Air Passenger Duty (APD), which - when introduced in 1994 - was billed as an environmental tax. Since 2007, APD on long-haul flights has increased from £20 to £92 per person in economy class, and it is to rise again in April. Calls for APD to be reduced, to offset the introduction of ETS, have so far been ignored.