Aviation is part of a much wider issue

ANOTHER report and another shrug of the shoulders from the UK Government on calls to devolve air passenger duty (APD) to Wales (see page 35).

This time a report from the crossparty Welsh Affairs Committee backing devolving aviation tax has been rebuffed by the Treasury for reasons including claims it could have a detrimental impact on Cardiff Airport’s nearest rival Bristol Airport, which now attracts well over one million passengers a year from Wales.

The Welsh Government’s argument is a compelling one – as the tax is devolved in Northern Ireland and Scotland, why not Wales?

Bristol Airport, which periodically sabre-rattles with the threat of taking anti-competitive legal action if the tax is devolved, has lobbied effectively to keep the Welsh APD issue firmly in its box. Despite evidence that abolishing APD on long-haul fights

would only have a negligible impact on Bristol Airport and the south-west of England’s wider economy, their position is understandable. No doubt Cardiff Airport would behave in the same way if positions were reversed.

However, even if it were devolved and the Welsh Government abolished all bands of the passenger tax on flights at Cardiff Airport, it would not be the determining factor in achieving the airport’s long-term sustainability. It has a stated aim of reaching more than three million passengers annually by the mid2020s, without factoring in a less punitive APD regime than Bristol.

But where does the Welsh Government’s ownership of an airport – having acquired Cardiff for £52m back in 2013 – sit with its climate change emergency, which it declared earlier this year?

While small, there is a growing number of people who on environmental grounds are choosing not to fly, or significantly reducing air miles travelled, while taking measures to offset their carbon footprints. There is emerging technology in batterypowered aircraft, but only on short routes. The reality is we are years off having mass aircraft on long-haul flights powered by batteries that don’t take up too much space to render flights uneconomic.

However, the aviation industry is now very much alive to the need for change. Aviation pollution accounts for around 2% of global carbon emissions and, with population growth set on an upwards curve, flight demand will follow.

The current focus on more efficient fuel usage, and using biofuels, is welcome, but will do little to tackle the emissions issue.

Greater global action on climate change is needed – and aviation has to be part of the solution.