Oslo Rygge has warned it may have to close down should client airlines follow through with threats to abandon the airport in the face of a looming NOK80 (USD9.07) passenger tax which will come into effect from April 1, 2016.

As part of its pro-Green policies, Norway's leftwing Liberal Party demanded the tax be incorporated into the 2016 budget as a means of dampening demand for air travel which is seen a primary pollutant. The tax is expected to raise NOK2 billion (USD226.8 million) for the fiscus on an annualized basis.

However, airport officials told Norway's Hegnar newspaper that its primary customer Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) has warned of serious consequences if the Norwegian government enforces the tax even threatening to withdraw all four aircraft based at Oslo Rygge while slashing the number of routes served by half. Should Ryanair follow through with its threat, the airfield says passenger throughput would plummet from the current 1.5 million pax/annum to 500,000 with associated revenues plunging by more than NOK140 million (USD15.8 million) thereby forcing it out of business.

So grave is the situation that Ryanair's commercial director, David O'Brian, along with the LCC's Scandinavian sales manager, Hans Jørgen Elnæs, sought an audience with finance minister, Siv Jensen, earlier this month to help map out a way forward.

Other airfields around the country have reported similar threats from airlines.

Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) has reportedly warned it would scale back its Oslo Torp operations with the reduction of service to Gdansk, Poland and the termination of its Tuzla International, Bosnia & Herzegovina, route.

Norwegian domestic operator Widerøe (WF, Bodø) has said it would drop its summer routes from Torp to Bodø and Harstad/Narvik airport in the country's north, while SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) and Norwegian (Oslo Gardermoen) have said they would reduce their northern Norwegian operations at airports like Alta and Kirkenes among others.

The carriers have criticized the proposed tax claiming it would not inhibit pollution as they would simply deploy capacity elsewhere across their respective networks.