Originally Posted by Kibison
Most governments look at no-show revenue as just that, revenue, and thus taxable. I am sure that the taxes Ryanair collected will have to be paid to the taxing authorities.
Not here in the UK. Nor in the Netherlands. Nor in one of two other countries that I know about.
Most of the so-called taxes aren't taxes anyway (it's just what passengers tend to call them). The correct terms is "taxes and charges", and for flights originating from the UK it's mostly airport handling charges rather than government taxes. Airport charges are based on passengers that travelled, not on travellers that were booked on a flight.