IAG boss Willie Walsh has started 2016 with a renewed call for scrapping air passenger duty.
The CEO of parent company British Airways describes APD as an “out of control rip-off” and said it’s “punishing” UK travellers and costing jobs.
Speaking to The Times around what he would like to see this year to help improve the country’s economic prospects, Walsh said: “The UK spends hundreds of millions of pounds attracting foreign tourists and business people to the country and then charges them up to £142 in tax to return home.
“This tax also punishes UK customers, knocks 0.5 per cent off UK GDP and loses us 60,000 jobs. Jobs that would be created over the medium-term if APD is scrapped.”
Walsh also wants government to introduce 10-year visas for Chinese visitors, to ensure that wealth from the world’s second-largest economy “flows into Britain”.
At the start of 2015, the government announced it was handing control over APD in Scotland to the Scottish parliament.