The vast majority of people in the UK support a reform of Air Passenger Duty (APD), according to a representative YouGov survey published today. The opinion poll was commissioned by easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, in the run up to the forthcoming increase in APD on 1 November.
The tax has been widely criticised for exempting private jets, cargo aircraft and foreign passengers changing planes as well as for under-taxing long-haul passengers. From an environmental perspective APD gives a perverse incentive – full planes pay the highest tax whilst empty ones pay no tax at all.
The analysis shows that 80% of the population agree that all flights, including cargo and private jets, should be taxed, while 69% said the tax ought to be designed to tackle climate change. In addition, almost two thirds of those questioned (65%) agreed that Air Passenger Duty should also cover foreign transfer passengers.
Andy Harrison, easyJet Chief Executive, said:
“Air Passenger Duty is a daft tax that the Government promised to reform. It broke its promise and increased the tax burden on the average family instead.
People don’t understand why their tax is going up again while pampered fat cats on private jets, cargo planes and foreign transfer passengers still don’t pay any tax at all. How can the Government justify a tax break for 20 million foreign transfer passengers while charging a British family of four ₤44 to go to Europe?
We need to make air tax greener and fairer now. It should be reformed from a poll tax into a flight tax that taxes emissions, not families.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editor:
For more information please contact Andrew McConnell in the easyJet press office:
Tel: 01582 52 52 52
Email: press.office@easyjet.com
Air Passenger Duty (APD) is an excise duty which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom airport. Short haul passengers currently pay £10.00 per flight; the tax will rise to £11.00 on November 1, 2009 and to £12.00 on November 1, 2010. In 2007 the Government announced its intention to change APD into an emissions-based flight tax, but revoked its plans a year later.
| Questions Asked by YouGov | Agree | Disagree |
|---|
| Air passenger duty should be designed to tackle climate change |
69% |
31% |
| Air passenger duty should be reformed to cover all flights including, cargo and private jets which are currently exempt |
80% |
20% |
| Air passenger duty should be reformed to cover foreign passengers changing planes |
65% |
35% |
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,961 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23rd and 26th October 2009. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+)
About easyJet:
About easyJet:
easyJet is Europe's leading low-fares airline, currently operating 182 aircraft on 445 routes, to 112 airports in 28 countries. easyJet carried over 44 million passengers in the past 12 months.
easyJet flies to:
Aberdeen, Agadir, Ajaccio, Alicante, Almeria, Amsterdam, Asturias, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Basel, Bastia, Belfast, Berlin, Biarritz, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bodrum, Bordeaux, Bournemouth, Brindisi, Bristol, Budapest, Brussels, Bucharest, Catania, Cagliari, Cologne, Copenhagen, Corfu, Casablanca, Dalaman, Dortmund, Dubrovnik, Dusseldorf, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Faro, Fuerteventura, Geneva, Gibraltar, Glasgow, Gran Canaria, Grenoble, Hamburg, Helsinki, Heraklion, Hurghada, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Inverness, Istanbul, Jersey, Krakow, Lamezia Terme, Larnaca, Lanzarote, La Rochelle, Lisbon, Liverpool, Ljubljana, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted, Lyon, Madeira, Madrid, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Manchester, Marrakech, Marseille, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Montpellier, Munich, Murcia, Mykonos, Nantes, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Olbia, Palermo, Palma, Paphos, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Pisa, Porto, Prague, Rhodes, Rome, Salzburg, Santorini, Sharm El Sheik, Sofia, Split, Stockholm, Tangier, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Turin, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, Zurich.
Back to 2009