Travel’s pleas for an Air Passenger Duty (APD) "holiday" appear to have fallen on deaf ears after the government set out the rates payable for the 2021/22 financial year.
While the rate of APD paid on short-haul journeys will be frozen at 2020/21 levels, the rate will increase on long-haul flights starting from 1 April next year.
An additional £2 per passenger will be levied on medium and long-haul economy seats, increasing the rate paid per fare to £82, while seats in premium classes will incur an additional £4 charge per seat, pushing APD on these fares up to £180.
APD is paid at the lower short-haul rate on flight routes where the distance from London to the destination country’s capital is, at most, 2,000 miles, and at the higher long-haul rate for those journeys beyond 2,000 miles.
An APD holiday, a temporary suspension of APD through to the end of summer 2021, is one of the key requests of the government of the TTG-led #SaveTravel campaign, and a call supported by Abta, Airlines UK and several other industry bodies.
The call was put to chancellor Rishi Sunak and transport secretary Grant Shapps earlier this month in a letter signed by more than 11,000 people.
Responding to Sunak’s winter jobs plan statement last week, Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer reiterated the association was of the belief the chancellor "should consider an APD cut ahead of next summer to incentivise people to book their well-deserved holidays in 2021".
The 2021/22 rate was revealed in an update to HM Revenue and Customs rates for Air Passenger Duty schedule, which was updated on Monday morning (28 September).