ERA welcome Government APD decision
23.06.10
The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) welcomed the Government's announcement in the Budget yesterday that it is postponing any decision to change Air Passenger Duty (APD). The tax currently operates on a per passenger basis, but is expected to change to a per aircraft based tax, which the ERA says 'risks penalising the millions of British passengers who need to make a connection between flights.'
The previous Government's preferred option was for an aircraft tax that would apply to each departure from a UK airport. This would have led to three taxes for a passenger making a return trip Aberdeen - London - Dallas, and six taxes for a passenger making a return trip from Southampton to Wick, travelling on the same aircraft but with two intermediate stops each way.
As EU rules require the same tax to be applied for any flight within the European Union, including domestic journeys within the UK, this would have led to the Southampton-Wick passenger paying six times the tax paid by a passenger travelling from the UK to Cyprus and back, who would pay only one tax on departure from the UK.
Andy Clarke, ERA’s Adviser Air Transport Policy said: ‘The clear winners of a per plane tax using the previous Government's model would be airlines that do not offer their passengers connections within the UK. The losers would be the millions of passengers who need to travel from UK regions that do not have non-stop flights to their chosen destinations. The economic effect on those regions would be significant as customers would undoubtedly choose cheaper flights to different destinations. We welcome the Government's announcement of a public consultation before pressing ahead with this initiative that could easily become a disaster.’
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