Budget changes to APD - 27 OCT 21

Chancellor delivers Halloween horror for long-haul travellers

27 October 2021 - The Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) has slated the increase in long-haul Air Passenger Duty (APD) from April 2023 as political posturing that undermines the industry’s net-zero commitments.

Dale Keller, chief executive of BAR UK said, “It is inconceivable that the Chancellor is choosing to suppress his ‘Global Britain’ aspirations and posture ahead of COP26 behind a highly flawed environmental rationale. The British public won’t be fooled into thinking that the Government is investing their APD money to reduce CO2 emissions from air travel. This is another missed opportunity for the UK to lead on overhauling obsolete taxation policies that are undermining the huge investments in technology and infrastructure needed to drive the sustainable recovery of a critical sector of the economy. Airlines have committed globally to 2050 net-zero targets that require Governments to develop pragmatic policies and implement tangible interventions - not resort to tinkering with blunt and regressive taxation that fails to meet the expectations of the public or support the sustainability initiatives of the industry.”

Commenting on the new domestic rate of APD, Keller said “We welcome the solution to a longstanding anomaly where return domestic flights have been taxed higher than international flights to Europe, but why wait until 2023? This eventual correction should not be regarded as a tax cut but simply the Government finally doing what is fair and right. But the notion that the world’s most heavily taxed long-haul travellers should be expected to subsidise a tax correction for domestic travellers underscores how APD remains not fit for purpose in stimulating a sustainable future for aviation.”

ENDS