Bosses at Southend Airport are stepping up their campaign against the scrapping of duty free as Stansted Airport - in the other corner of the county - warns that jobs could be on the line.

European Union officials plan to stop all duty and tax free sales on routes between member countries from June 30 as they say the practice is not compatible with its internal policies.

If the duty free ban goes ahead, Southend Airport bosses fear there could be job losses and higher air fares across the country.

However, they hope Southend will not be badly affected as the airport only runs a small duty free shop.

London Southend Airport director Roger Campbell said: "We are hoping it will not cause us a great deal of problems.

"We only have a small shop here and do not rely on duty free trade as heavily as Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick.

"If it does end we will be looking at other services we can offer our customers."

The airport has been campaigning to get the EU's plan scrapped by contacting MPs, Euro MPs and asking people to sign petitions.

Stansted Airport is also bracing itself for the scrapping of duty free shopping.

Jobs at the international airport could be on the line and landing charges look set to be increased.

Irish airline Ryanair says it will look at other airports if landing charges are increased by 15 per cent.

Stansted spokesman Rona Young said Stansted expected to lose between £10 million and £13 million annually from the loss of duty free revenue and airport regulator the Civil Aviation Authority had okayed the increase in landing charges.

"Landing charges will go up if we lose duty free because we have to recover our revenue somehow.

"It's not just at Stansted. Every airport sells duty free and that revenue helps to keep landing charges down.

"People don't realise the knock-on effect this is going to have."

Miss Young was unable to say how much landing charges would be set at saying it depended on passenger numbers, the aircraft and the time of day and year.

She added: "London airports charge 50 per cent less than other comparable airports in Europe."

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