British Airways has criticised the UK’s high-level of APD and called for its abolition to boost the economy.
The airline said the “relentless rises” in the tax, which is 20 years old this week, means that a family of four flying to a destination outside Europe will soon pay £284 in tax, compared to £40 when the tax was introduced.
According to BA figures, annual treasury revenue from APD is now nearly 10 times as much as in the tax’s first full year. The airline also claimed that UK passengers have paid more than £26 billion in APD since 1994.
Willie Walsh, CEO of BA’s parent company IAG, said: "Twenty years on, APD has snowballed out of control and become a tax that works against people wanting to visit relatives and friends, go on holiday or grow their business to create jobs.
"APD is way out of line with both other indirect taxes in the UK and flight taxes in other countries. Globalisation has accelerated enormously in the last 20 years. This tax helps no-one in today's economic environment. We must call time on APD."
BA said that the scrapping of APD would boost Britain’s economic growth by 0.5 per cent within a year and lead to the creation of 60,000 new jobs without reducing the treasury’s net revenues.
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have today made a joint submission to the Smith Commission, calling for Air Passenger Duty (APD) to be devolved to the Scottish parliament.
It is expected that if the Scottish government gained control of setting APD it would eventually lead to the scrapping of the tax entirely in Scotland.