JOIN THE UK AIR PASSENGER DUTY CAMPAIGN Tuesday 28th August 2012
British Airways CEO, Keith Williams writes to AHTA Members to join the campaign for A Fair Tax on Flying. Read below what Mr. Williams has to say:
“ As a frequent flyer, you will know as well as anyone that taxes on air travel are higher in the UK than anywhere else in the world - so I wanted to tell you about a campaign aimed at changing that.
In the last six years, Air Passenger Duty (APD) - the tax paid by airlines for each passenger departing a UK airport - has risen more than 300 per cent on many routes - while inflation has increased barely 20 per cent.
Some customers are now paying £184 for a single journey, while the cost for families taking their annual holiday has sky-rocketed: In 2006, a family of four flying from the UK to the Caribbean would pay £80 in APD - today they would pay £324 in World Traveller, or £648 in World Traveller Plus, Club World, or First.
This level of increase has no justification and no international parallel. Yet the UK Government has firm plans to keep on raising APD every year to 2017.
This tax also acts as a brake on growth and jobs for the whole economy by making it more difficult for businesses to reach new markets, and making the UK less attractive to overseas visitors.
How can you help? Just take a few seconds to visit www.afairtaxonflying.org and click on "Not a UK Resident?". This will generate an automatic letter to the UK minister responsible for APD, George Osborne, calling for action on a tax that is now far too high and inflicting real damage on the UK's efforts to move out of recession. Add your name, send and you're done.
This is an important campaign - and I hope you will support us in it.”
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