Tax on flights hits 78 per cent despite MPS’ plea for waiver

TRAVELLERS face paying up to 78 per cent tax on flights from April after the Government ignored a plea for a waiver from airlines and lifted the levy.

An analysis, published today by a group of MPS, shows that on average the Government will be taking nearly 40 per cent in tax for flying on a one-way ticket from UK airports.

On some routes, however, the Air Passenger Duty ( APD) rises to more than 50 per cent and a peak of 78 per cent for a flight to Israel, where £82 of the £105 ticket is tax. It is 62 per cent on a £21 flight to Malta and 59 per cent on £22 flights to Portugal and Denmark.

The study, by the Future of Aviation Group, led by Henry Smith, a Tory MP, and backed by Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 backbench committee, comes after Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, rejected calls to help the struggling aviation industry by waiving the charge for a year.

Instead, the duty for long haul flights will rise from £78 to £82 from April, part of a sequence of rises that has seen the “stealth” tax increase from £10 when it was introduced in 1994.

Mr Smith said: “That we are continuing to levy the highest aviation taxes in the world when our aviation industry is on its knees is simply unacceptable and risks holding back the sector’s recovery before it has even started. We should be cutting aviation taxes to help get Britain flying again not raising them.”

Meanwhile, Which?, the consumer group, reported that air passengers would face a 10-year wait for delay claims to be dealt with at the current rate that courts are processing cases.

♦ Pent-up demand for holidays saw sales of euros rise despite the Government’s travel restrictions.

Post Office Travel Money said that while sales remained far lower than last year, the past few months showed signs of a revival.

Nick Boden, from the firm, said: “Holiday makers who want to travel abroad still have plenty of good choices among European and Caribbean islands.”