Airline CEOs from easyJet, IAG, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic are urging the Chancellor to make air taxation his number one priority under a new approach to taxation analysis.
The Treasury this week promised to change the way it measures the impact of taxation on the economy.
As the rate of Air Passenger Duty increased from yesterday (April 1), major airlines are calling for an examination of the impact of APD to be top of the Chancellor’s list.
Carolyn McCall, Willie Walsh, Michael O’Leary and Steve Ridgway, jointly said:
"APD rises again on April fool’s Day but the public should not be fooled again by this tax and the damage it does to them, to jobs and to the wider economy.
"We urge George Osborne to make APD the first tax to be examined under the Treasury’s new review of the wider impacts of taxation on the economy and to halt the proposed rise in APD to £500 for a family of four until this review is complete."
The Treasury plans to follow yesterday’s rises in APD with further increases intended to grow APD revenue by 46% by 2016.
These increases would mean a family of four paying tax of £440 to fly economy-class to the Caribbean, and £500 to Australia.
In 2005, a family of four travelling to any long-haul destination would have paid just £80.
"Including a £78 visa charge, each Chinese business traveller pays nearly £250 to the Government before they’ve even arrived in the UK – which puts the UK at a disadvantage compared with Germany and France’s more competitive tax and visa regimes," added the airlines.
by Bev Fearis
