European airline chiefs have called on the European Union to remove "economically damaging" aviation taxes.
Airlines4Europe (A4E), the aviation campaign body, said air passenger duty, especially in the UK and Germany, continues to “hinder” growth and jobs across Europe.
At a conference in Brussels on Wednesday, A4E managing director, Thomas Reynaert, said passengers paid €5.6 billion to Europe’s leading aviation tax collectors named as the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Austria.
Last month, Sweden announced it was introducing the tax in 2018. This follows repeated calls from airlines and airports to the UK government that the tax should be scrapped.
In 2015, the UK confirmed it would devolve powers to charge APD to the Scottish government after the ‘no’ vote in the 2014 vote on independence. Scotland plans to cut it by 50 per cent by 2018.
“Both evidence and economic facts show that removing aviation taxes is beneficial,” said Reynaert. “Countries which have scrapped them have seen an immediate boost in air transport and tourism which has benefited their economies.
“While Scotland and Italy have taken steps in the right direction there is still a long way to go in the UK as a whole and Germany.
“The European Commission has acknowledged that aviation taxes may negatively impact connectivity and competitiveness and it has committed to publish a tax inventory to assess their effect on the economy. We call on the European Commission to boost Europe’s competitiveness by supporting the abolition of these damaging taxes”, he said.
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