Air passenger duty (APD) on long-haul flights from Great Britain will increase from 1 April 2021 despite calls for increases to the tax to be shelved because of the Covid pandemic.
The government has announced that the rates of APD for flights to so-called band B destinations – defined as countries whose capitals are more than 2,000 miles from London – will increase by up to £13.
The reduced rate for travel in the lowest class of travel available on a plane for seat pitches less than 1.016 metres (40 inches) will increase from £80 now to £82 from April. The standard rate for travel in any other class of travel or where the seat pitch is more than 1.016 metres will increase from £176 to £180. The higher rate for travel in planes of 20 tonnes or more equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers goes up from £528 to £541.
The rates do not apply to long-haul flights from Northern Ireland. Flights from Scotland continue to attract APD following a 2019 U-turn on a decision to scrap the tax.
Over the summer, aviation body AirlinesUK published a report calling for a 12-month waiver on APD saying it could potentially save 8,000 aviation jobs, hundreds of routes and contribute an additional £7 billion in gross value added.
The UK’s travel agents have also been calling for a review of APD since before the pandemic. In February, ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer had written to the government calling for a “comprehensive overhaul of the structure of APD”.