APD – Air Passenger Duty to be per aircraft

Travel Advice: APD or Air Passenger Duty will now be per aircraft and not per passenger, as this environment green tax, brought in rather half cocked by the labour government. Is amended to cover all aircraft.

The original APD meant that cargo planes were exempt from paying it and they are some of the worst polluters in the aviation industry..

The Con/Lib government has said it will replace the APD with the per plane levy despite fears that this could result in passengers paying even more..

But these so called green taxes were never specifically ring fenced for investment in environmental or carbon offsetting initiatives, and therefore it could be perceived that they are simply a revenue generating device.

We also applaud the proposal to extend the tax to all aircraft movements. If applied sensibly this will encourage both the move to more fuel efficient aircraft and higher load factors on the aircraft that do fly.

At the same time though, we would urge the Government not to use the reform as an opportunity to tax the aviation industry more heavily than is already the case.”