Some 30 North American travel organisations have written to the British government urging a rethink on Air Passenger Duty (APD).
In the open letter to chancellor George Osborne the travel bodies said they were “concerned that APD amounts to a tax grab targeting airline passengers for the purpose of deficit reduction”.
Signatories include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Air Transport Association, American Hotel and Lodging Association, Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Business Travel Coailition and Global Business Travel Association.
“We believe the APD tax unfairly penalizes airlines and their customers,” the letter continued.
An increase in APD is rumoured to be included in the chancellor’s Autumn review later this month.
In the letter, the US travel organizations called for these plans to be “abandoned” and instead a “progressive reduction of this burdensome tax” initiated.
They warned that the tax has already reduced demand for air transport, and any increase will worsen the situation.
“That will create cascading injurious economic effects, which will undermine the efforts of Her Majesty’s Government to stimulate the economy,” they added.
"We respectfully request that the U.K. freeze the current APD tax rate as a prelude to a phase-out.
"We believe that there are more economically sound ways to reduce the U.K. budget deficit than strangling tourism and air-service trade between our two countries."