For those who have been befuddled by the ongoing assaults on aviation in the UK, there has been some validation of their misgivings, but little cause for optimism.

A letter dated August 12 to Olivier Jankovec, director general of the Brussels-based Airports Council International has been leaked to the press. In it Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has admitted that “APD is fundamentally a revenue raising duty and currently raises around GBP2.5 billion per year.” This puts to rest any notion that the levy was somehow connected to environmental concerns, revealing the real purpose behind the scheme, which imposes the world’s steepest taxes on travelers.