23 March 2011

Reform of air passenger duty

Issued: 23 March 2011

Open date: 23 March 2011

Close date: 17 June 2011

Background

At Budget 2011, the Government launched a consultation on Air Passenger Duty (APD) to explore the scope for improving the fairness and efficiency of the current system. The consultation document recognised the important contribution of the aviation sector to the UK economy and raised a number of specific questions on the future structure of APD, whilst stressing the need to maintain revenues from the aviation sector. To make APD fairer, the Government also announced plans to extend APD to business jets for the first time.

Reform of air passenger duty: A consultation (PDF 5.4MB)

Consultation responses

The consultation closed on 17 June 2011 having received over 500 responses from the aviation sector, domestic and international tourism, other business sectors and consumers. As part of the consultation process, a number of meetings were also held with stakeholders.

On 6 December 2011 the Government issued its response. The document below summarises the responses to the consultation and addresses each of the five questions raised in the consultation as well as other relevant issues highlighted by stakeholders.

Air passenger duty: response to consultation (PDF 273KB)

The Autumn Statement 2011 confirmed the Government’s plans to extend APD to business jets of 5.7 tonnes or more, effective from 1 April 2013. It also confirmed that APD rates will increase from 1 April 2012, as announced at Budget 2011.

Since 1 November 2011, APD rates for passengers travelling on direct long-haul routes departing from airports in Northern Ireland have been cut to the short-haul rate – currently £12 per passenger in economy and £24 for business and first class passengers. This change was announced by the Chancellor, in consultation with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive, on 27 September, in recognition of the unique challenges faced by Northern Ireland in attracting air traffic into its airports.

To provide a lasting solution, the Government has launched a parallel process to devolve aspects of APD to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Government is publishing draft legislation in the draft 2012 Finance Bill to put these reforms into effect.

The documents on this page are available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website.

For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.