Flybe & Air Passenger Duty Reform

January 14th, 2020

Commenting on the speculation regarding Flybe and the reform of Air Passenger Duty for domestic travel, Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of Airlines UK, said:

“One of the advantages of leaving the EU is the possibility of cutting or removing APD on domestic travel. It’s an anomaly that particularly hurts regional aviation as it’s levied on both legs of a return journey. Irrespective of the Flybe situation we hope the Government will take a closer look at this – and all other elements of our ruinously high and uncompetitive APD – as we need to support our strategically vital regional air connectivity and levying £26 in tax when – in the case of Flybe – the average fare is £52 – is not sustainable when so many other costs on airlines are increasing.

“APD is not and never has been an environmental tax. It has no bearing on the ability of the aviation industry to decarbonise and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This will be achieved via a range of other measures, including airspace modernisation, the development of sustainable aviation fuels, new, cleaner planes, and the UN carbon offsetting scheme CORSIA, which captures growth in all emissions from international aviation and will mitigate around 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 between 2021 and 2035.”