Passengers hit with 8% hike in airport tax

HIGHER rates of the air passenger duty (APD) airport departure tax take effect today, hitting passengers with a ticket increase of about 8 per cent.

Airline chiefs urged Chancellor George Osborne to re-examine plans for further hikes, while the British Air Transport Association (Bata) said APD was “a tax on tourism”.

Today’s increase will mean a family of four flying to Florida, for example, will have to pay £260 in APD, while a family of four jetting off to Australia will have to fork out £368.

As the Treasury is intending to increase APD revenue up until 2016, and this could push APD for a family of four travelling to Australia up to £500.

EasyJet chief executive Carolyn McCall, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary and Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway have joined Willie Walsh, boss of British Airways’ parent company IAG, in condemning the latest rise. They said: “APD rises again on April Fool’s Day, but the public should not be fooled again by this tax and the damage it does to them, to jobs and to the wider economy.

“We urge George Osborne to make APD the first tax to be examined under the Treasury’s new review of the wider impacts of taxation on the economy and to halt the proposed rise until this review is complete.”

Bata chief executive Simon Buck said: “It has become a tax on tourism, making it increasingly difficult for ordinary families to afford their summer getaway.”