Apparently passengers and carriers alike are very upset over the national government’s plan to implement a new levy on all flight tickets. This new tax, which was initially announced earlier this year, will add a lot of money onto certain tickets.

According to reports, the levy will only add about €8 to tickets to 52 European destinations. This is not too bad, but it starts getting worse from there on out. The levy will also add €25 to 50 airports in Asia and Africa, and €45 to all other destinations. Overall, it is easy to see just how much more money this is going to add onto certain family trips and business trips alike.

The Chancellor, Angela Merkel, went on to confirm that tax will be imposed on all flights out of the country starting January 1, 2011. This does include all tickets that are purchased today.

This new levy is part of a proposed budget designed to save the German exchequer €80 billion in the period to 2014. The finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, went on to explain that the timing on this was very crucial. He said that they are implementing this measure with immediate effect following the Cabinet resolution today.

Wolfgang said that they are doing this to help avoid a massive rush for people buying tickets before the tax comes into affect. This is something that the government would like to avoid.

Of course, the country’s two largest airlines, Air Berlin and Lufthansa, are pretty upset about the tax as well. In a statement, Lufthansa said that such an unilateral action will just weaken Germany as a base for the aviation industry. This is going to put the whole country at a very special disadvantage.