Easyjet has accused the Coalition of going back on its pledge to make air passenger duty fairer and greener following Chancellor George Osborne’s confirmation that he would not be replacing it with a per plane tax, which he said would fall foul of international law.
Mr Osborne said in his Budget that he would continue to campaign to change the law to allow for a per plane duty, but in the meantime he has called for a review of the tax, which has been frozen for a year.
He revealed he was considering extending the tax to private jets and altering the current banding to more accurately reflect distances flown, but he gave no indication that he was planning to extend the tax to transfer passengers.
Easyjet chief executive Carolyn McCall said: “The decision to tax passengers on private jets is a step in the right direction, as is the decision to postpone any rise in the APD.
"However, the continued omission of transfer passengers from APD undermines what the Coalition promised to achieve by replacing it with a fairer, greener per plane tax.
"By removing this subsidy to foreign transfer passengers, four out of five British travellers would be better off. easyJet supports the Government’s desire to be the ‘greenest Government ever’ and will continue to campaign in favour of a fundamental review of APD.”
