Minister admits APD will cut air passengers

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Chris Gray


The government has admitted that its planned increases in Air Passenger Duty will lose the aviation industry 1.5 million passengers from Britain.

Its admission about the impact of the rises planned for November this year and next came in a written parliamentary answer from new transport minister Paul Clark.

He said the government estimated that by 2030, the number of passengers travelling through British airports would drop by 1.5 million people as a result of APD.

The government’s answer also revealed it expected 1.4 million of those people to disappear from short-haul flights.

Aviation pressure group Flying Matters said the government’s answer showed how the tax increases would hit poorer people, whose travels were restricted to short-haul flights.

Chairman Brian Wilson said: “These figures show how millions of ordinary families will be priced out of flying by these taxes. 

“There is no justification for such a regressive measure. Returning air travel to the preserve of a wealthy elite is likely to go down like a lead balloon with the electorate.”

A Flying Matters spoksman added that it believed the government had underestimated the impact of the tax increases on long-haul flights, where a family of four would face paying £600 in tax to go on holiday.

• APD campaign: McEwan responds to O'Leary's 'witless' jibe (25 Jun 2009)
• Caribbean ramps up APD lobbying (18 Jun 2009)
• APD: 'a poll tax of the skies' (1 Jun 2009)



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