BA cuts flights to Caribbean over APD tax levels
British Airways is to cut services to the Caribbean at the same time Virgin Atlantic has made plans to add extra capacity.
BA’s decision was due to less demand for the destination and the high APD tax on Caribbean flights, according to chief executive Keith Williams.
“It is no coincidence that our reduction in the number of services to the Caribbean is accompanied by a rise in services to Florida – a destination that is taxed at a rate 20 per cent less than the Caribbean.”
He added that BA would fight further increases in APD in an attempt to ‘stop this destructive tax juggernaut in its tracks’.
Virgin will offer extra flights to Barbados, Cuba, Tobago and Grenada from this winter.
Due to a re-fit of its aircraft, it will also offer 14% more Premium Economy seats, promising to bring more high spending visitors to the islands.
The World Travel & Tourism Council also backed the comments made at the Caribbean’s State of Industry conference in St Martin on Friday, claiming air taxes were deterring Britons from visiting the island.
President David Scowsill said the tax harmed the islands, which he said were more heavily dependent on tourism than anywhere else in the world, and hit the Caribbean community living in the UK.
Scowsill said figures from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation showed arrivals from the UK were down 20% in the first six months of this year compared with the first half of 2008.
“APD has always been a blunt instrument and a bad tax," said Scowsill. "The distance-based system is discriminatory to the Caribbean and the Caribbean people living in the UK. The Caribbean is closer to the UK than the US West Coast yet it is in a higher band."
By Linsey McNeill and Diane Evans
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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