The UK is being urged to take a lead from the Dutch government and scrap Air Passenger Duty.

The call came from ABTA which claimed that as the UK enters a severe recession APD will “exacerbate the problems already being encountered by the aviation and tourist industries with significant falls in passenger numbers”.

The announcement by the Dutch government (as previously reported by TravelMole) that it plans to scrap its airport tax as part of its economic support measures will have the added effect of encouraging airlines to bypass the UK and re-route to Dutch airports with further damage to the UK’s economy, ABTA claims.

But Flybe doubted that the UK government would follow the Dutch lead and scrap APD and instead called for a planned rise in the tax this autumn to be abandoned.

The airline has written to Chancellor Alastair Darling calling on him to postpone the proposed APD rise planned for November.

Chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said: “Flybe is not innocent enough to think that the UK government will follow the Dutch lead and abolish APD but we certainly think there is a case for them to put on ice the planned November rise in APD. 

“Such a move would be a tangible stimulus to the British economy and send out a very clear message that the government cares about industries other than just the banking sector”.

ABTA accused the government of consistently ignoring warnings about the damage caused to the UK’s economy by the tax and has raised it to some of the highest levels in the world.

The association’s head of development Andy Cooper said: “The UK government must finally see sense and scrap or reduce Air Passenger Duty if we are to avoid significant damage to the UK’s aviation and tourist industries.

“The Dutch government’s proposal to bin their own aviation tax will greatly benefit their own economy with the added effect of yet more airlines giving up on over-taxed Britain and rerouting to the continent.”