Chancellor urged to scrap aviation tax in Autumn Statement

Photographer Ian GAir lobby urges scrapping of Air Passenger Duty. Picture: Ian Georgeson

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A leading aviation lobby group has urged the scrappiing of Air Passenger Duty (APD) ahead of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement tomorrow.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of the British Airways-owning International Airlines Group (IAG), and Carolyn McCall and Michael O’Leary, his counterparts at EasyJet and Ryanair respectively, have told Philip Hammond via Airlines for Europe, that the APD is “hampering Britain’s economic growth”.

They say that countries which have abolished aviation taxes “have seen an immediate boost to GDP and tourism”, and cite a report by management consultancy and accountany giant PwC claiming that scrapping APD “would boost UK GDP by 1.7 per cent” by 2020.