New researched released by the ‘A Fair Tax on Flying’ campaign shows UK travellers in business class pay double the Air Passenger Duty (APD) charged for economy seats.
The research shows business travellers flying from UK airports paid £400 million more in APD than they would have done if they had paid the EU levy.
The tax is broken in to two rates, one for short-haul routes of less than 2,000 miles and one for longer services. Currently, APD for shorter distances is £13 for economy seats and £26 for business, or £73 for economy on long-haul flights and £146 for business. In stark contrast, the average levy in Germany is £5.68 for short-haul trips and £31.95 for longer journeys.
A Fair Tax on Flying’s spokeswoman Karen Dee said: “Whilst this analysis highlights how our high levels of APD are hitting business travel and our ability to grow trade, it is also affecting the cost of leisure trips and holidays.
“We need a decisive cut in APD to open up new routes to emerging markets and make it easier to build up trade and to make the UK an even more welcoming destination for foreign business travellers, many of whom invest here.
“If the Chancellor wants to signal that Britain is truly ‘open for business’ as Brexit looms, what better way than cutting this tax on trade by at least 50 per cent to bring us in line with the next highest of our European trading rivals, Germany?”
afairtaxonflying.org