The tax is being devolved to Holyrood where the Scottish National Party has pledged to half the rate from 2018 before dissolving it by the end of the next parliament in 2021.
The 12-week consultation, which runs until June 3, will seek to establish how the reduction should be structured as well as how the tax should be operated in order to boost Scotland’s economy.
However, it has already caused alarm in England where no similar moves have been planned, raising fears that the reduction would leave airports south of the border as uncompetitive.
Darren Caplan, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association which represents 55 UK airports, said: “The Scottish government has been doing all the running on this issue for a long time now, and ministers in Westminster need to acknowledge that their failure to respond has created a lot of uncertainty.
“Scottish ministers have been quite clear that they will start to reduce APD by 50% in 2018.
“Given that the Treasury’s own analysis suggests that such a move will create a competitive distortion and damage airports in other parts of the UK, we desperately need the chancellor to respond to his own discussion paper on this matter – itself well over six months old – and offer reassurances that a cut anywhere in the UK should be matched immediately by a cut everywhere.”
Steve Gill, managing director of Peel Airports which owns Doncaster Sheffield, Durham Tees and Liverpool John Lennon airports, added: “The aviation sector has long argued that APD in the UK is a barrier to growth, amongst the highest in Europe and reducing the competitiveness of a key sector for the UK economy.
“Scotland and potentially Wales reducing APD through devolved powers without subsequent action to maintain a level playing field across the wider UK, would leave regional airports offering vital international connectivity at a substantial disadvantage.
“At a time when there is rightly a focus on boosting regional growth outside of London and the south east such as the chancellor’s Northern Powerhouse vision, reducing APD for Scotland will put those airports who are based in the north under further competitive strain.
“We welcomed the Treasury’s discussion paper on APD that was published last summer and eagerly await the response as the sector looks to government for how it will maintain the current level playing field going forward—matching such reductions would seem fair.”
