One of Europe's biggest and most popular budget airlines has pulled out of Scotland, blaming Gordon Brown's hike in air passenger duties.

One of Europe's biggest and most popular budget airlines has pulled out of Scotland, blaming Gordon Brown's hike in air passenger duties.

For two years Air Berlin has been ferrying Scots passengers to seven German destinations via a UK hub in Stansted.

Last night it confirmed it would axe its twice-daily flights from Glasgow to London. "Our last flight will be on October 31," said airline spokeswoman Angelika Schwaff. "The doubling of the air passenger duty made our UK domestic hub operation commercially difficult."

The Air Berlin model had depended on transiting passengers from Glasgow, Manchester and Belfast through Stansted on special transfers. Passengers checked their bags in at their local airport but changed planes in London. That, when flights began in 2005, was able to provide fares of £29 single, including taxes. Gordon Brown's decision to double duty from February 2007 made the model untenable because passengers flying through Stansted effectively had to pay the tax twice.

"We had charges of more than £20 on lead-in fares of £24," Ms Schwaff said. "That meant we were operating in a minus."

Air Berlin has built a decent customer base in Scotland: its aircraft were running fairly full, often with German holidaymakers. The Glasgow service to Stansted linked into connections to and from Berlin, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Munster, Hanover and Paderborn.

The airline could escape double air passenger duty if it flies direct from Scotland to Germany, one of the biggest markets for Scottish tourism. The Herald understands negotiations are under way to bring Air Berlin back to Glasgow, perhaps with Dusseldorf rather than Stansted acting as a hub.

A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: "We're disappointed at Air Berlin's decision to withdraw their connecting flights to Germany through Stansted. While there was reasonable demand for this service, clearly the route did not meet its business expectations."