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Holidaymakers are getting used to paying for hidden extras when they fly but what about being charged for fresh air?

An airport in Venezuela is doing just that in an attempt to pay for a new air conditioning unit.

Simon Bolivar International Airport in the country's capital city Caracas introduced the charge of 127 bolivars (£11.80) on July 1 to pay for the air conditioning unit that was installed at the airport in May.

Added cost: The charge of 127 bolivars applies to all domestic and international flights

The airport claims to be the first in South America to have installed the new technology.

According to a statement on the airport's website, the new air conditioning system helps to 'eliminate contaminants in the environment and protect health'.

The charge applies to all domestic and international flights and must be paid to the airline when passengers check in.

CNN.com reported that several passengers had complained on Twitter about the new charges. One user, @VeronicaTorresA, wrote: 'While the stench of the toilets asphyxiates me ... they have started to charge 127 bolivars for breathing the ozone', while another traveller complained that the temperature at the airport had shot up to 36C.

Meanwhile, radio presenter Daniel Martinez asked: 'Could you explain to me the ozone thing in Maiquetia? The toilets have no water, the air-con is broken, there are stray dogs inside the airport, but there's ozone?'

Charging passengers to breath fresh air is not the only controversy Venezuela's aviation industry is involved in.

The International Air Transport Association has accused the country of preventing the repatriation of $4 billion in airline ticket sales because of currency control problems.

Fresh thinking: The airport claims to be the first airport in South America to have installed the new technology

Just last week, Delta Air Lines reduced its service to Venezuela due to a dispute with the government over revenue trapped in the South American country.

The carrier reduced its service by 85 per cent, replacing its daily roundtrip flight between Atlanta and Caracas with one roundtrip weekend flight as of August 1.

American Airlines reduced it service to Venezuela by 80 per cent last week and now only flies in from Miami, while Air Canada suspended its flights to Venezuela in March.

But Venezuela's cash-strapped government agreed to pay part of $4 billion owed to foreign airlines and may soon allow them to aggressively raise airfares in an attempt to prevent more carriers from leaving the country.

Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres announced a deal in May that would allow six Latin American airlines including Colombia's Avianca and AeroMexico to repatriate revenue from local sales in 2012 and 2013.