British Government’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) Causes Airline Cancellations

‘Industry insiders are worried it could add to the 76 routes already cancelled since March last year.’

Submitted by Adrian Loveridge

According to Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, ‘Gordon Brown’s tourism tax will see Britain lose over 10 million passengers, 10,000 airport jobs and more than UK Pounds 2.5 billion in tourism spend in the UK this year alone’.

He further pointed out that Belgium, Holland, Greece and Spain had already scrapped the tax. Barbados and the Caribbean will suffer perhaps more than any other destination and region due to the clearly unfair zoning bands which levies a higher tax on London/Barbados flights than London/San Francisco or other cities on the US pacific coast.

It is difficult to fathom why a clearly unpopular Government on the eve of a General Election would want to alienate tens of thousands of voters that will lose their jobs directly and possible hundreds of thousands indirectly.

Initially presented as an environment tax, it quite obviously is a stealth tax with blatantly discriminating distance bands and the fact that the tax will not payable by often older, less fuel efficient freight aircraft and private jets that could largely afford the extra cost.