17 July 2009

Collective action urged to fight APD

The travel industry has been urged to unite in the flight against further hikes in Air Passenger Duty.

The call came in the first major public statement from new ABTA Chairman John McEwan.

He called on travel bodies such as the Scottish Passenger Agents Association, Passenger Shipping Association and Association of Independent tour Operators to join ABTA in calling on the Government to rethink plans to rise APD in November and again in 2010.

Speaking at an ABTA summer event in London to an audience of MPs, senior civil servants and leading travel industry figures, McEwan said: "We have a number of common views and all feel very strongly about APD which will see a family of four paying £340 tax on a flight to Australia by next year.

"The tax must be reduced and if not, it will lead to job losses in the UK and have a severe impact on the economies of many developing nations"

His call for action followed on recent comments by environment secretary Ed Miliband, quoted in the Guardian as saying: "I don’t want to have a situation where only rich people can afford to fly. People in my constituency have benefited from being able to have foreign travel, which, 40 years ago, only the middle classes took for granted."

ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "We fully agree with Ed Miliband’s sensible comments that air travel should not become once more only the preserve of the well off. However, increasing APD will have precisely that effect."

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Your Comments (1)

Where does the money **really** go?

No one really begrudges price increases but where does the APD really go? What benefits will passengers enjoy from it? Apart from the fact MP's have little credibility after fiddling expenses for years, unless they can justify the APD increases every air traveller will resent having to pour yet more more money into that Black Hole called government coffers.

By J Hewson, Friday, July 17, 2009