Germans target low-cost airlines

RYANAIR and easyJet are in the sights of Germany's powerful environmental lobby which says budget airlines are destroying the planet.

The no-frills airlines are under attack in a new awareness-raising and national advertising campaign.

The low-budget air travel market in Germany remains largely undeveloped but carriers are eager to tap into the potential of Europe's largest economy.

Their revolutionary fare structures allow passengers to travel at extremely low cost. In August alone, about four million passengers flew between various European destinations with Irish carrier Ryanair and rival easyJet.

Germany's environmental lobby says the no-frills boom has made air traffic Germany's 'climate killer No 1'. They are launching a campaign today to encourage people to get out of the jet and hop on to the train.

'We want people to ask themselves: is it worth it? Perhaps, it would be better for the environment to take the car or the train,' said Helmer Pless, travel expert at the green lobby group Travel Club of Germany, which says greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft are three times higher than those of cars.

The complaints by the environmentalists are backed up by the German government. The Federal Environment Office says the increase in air traffic over Europe's skies and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions will increase the damage done to the ozone layer.