Somebody...please teach me airline taxes?

OK, so here we are booking flights to our place in Rhodes for New Year [:)] The cost compared with last year is more than double, but no surprises there! What I can't fathom is how airline taxes work:-

Olympic ex LHR via ATH: Tax = 147.80

Aegean ex STN via ATH: Tax = 62.48

What's going on...is it really nearly 100 more to fly from LHR?

Tried numerous sites and consistently got these figures?

Any advice appreciated

Thanks
James

[honey lamb]

Taxes include things like use of gates, jetbridges, parking time, baggage handling and the size of the plane. I saw a breakdown once but I can't remember where.

One of the reasons why STN is so much cheaper than LHR (and thus beloeved by LCCs) is the fact that they don't need/use jetbridges which adds to the cost.

Also 'tax' is now an umbrella term for fuel and insurance surcharges too. These are set by the airlines themselves and they can set them at whatever level they want.
rather than put up the prices of the actual ticket, which involves re-issuing contracts and generally a lot more work, they can just bump up their fuel surcharge which can be done instantly through the GDS which is how travel agents and websites get their fares.

I worked in a travel agency when the UK introduced it's first ever tax - £5!
Then BA (booo!) decided to separate all the taxes and airport charges, in a move they described as 'transparency', but was widely seen as a way to reduce commission payments to agents... and then everyone started doing it.

Now, I see taxes and charges as purely a marketing tool for most airlines. That's why FlyBE between Inverness and Gatwick show taxes of £20.60, while easyJet shows only £5.00 for the same route.

I agree with the marketing tool opinion. in these days of fluid pricing an 0% commission for agents, why not just have 1 price which can fluctuate!?