SOUTHAMPTON Airport's biggest airline, the no frills FlyBe, has warned that government plans to double air taxes would devastate the development of the regional flights business.

Chancellor Gordon Brown is said to be proposing to raise air passenger duty from £5 to £10 from the UK to Europe and from £20 to £40 for other destinations.

Easyjet, another low fare airline, suggested the move could be an attempt to "price people out of the sky".

The cut price fares industry, which has been known to sell tickets for as little as 50p, accused the chancellor of trying to appease the Green lobby with the tax hike.

Environmentalists have grown increasingly concerned about air fuel's contribution to global warming.

But FlyBe recommended measuring airlines' environmental performance so travellers could make an informed choice, instead of forcing fares to rise.

In a statement, the company said: "Rather than implementing this taxation - which would devastate regional aviation development and therefore regional economic growth - we propose the formulation and adoption of an Environmental Labelling Scheme, applicable to airlines and airports to measure their environmental performance."

By grading and labelling airlines and airports on the strength of their environmental performance, FlyBE. believes it would be easy for consumers to see which were the greenest. The company volunteered to pilot such a scheme, which is an example of what is known as a 'smart economic instrument'.

FlyBe spokesman Mike Rutter wanted to see any money raised in the regions to stay in the regions.

He said: "Unlike other forms of transport, especially the rail network, no subsidy is given to air travel. Revenues raised through these taxes are not reinvested in aviation. Rather, the monies go directly to the Treasury.

"If it were reinvested in the UK's regions it would make available funds to provide much-needed improvements in the UK's transport infrastructure and release pressure on the south-east London airports."