BRITISHAirways has condemned chancellor Gordon Brown’s doubling of Air Passenger Duty for long-haul business passengers as discriminatory.
The hike from £20 to £40 for business-class customers from April 1 next year is another setback for the UK flag carrier, which is planning to raise declining revenues by concentrating on premium passengers.
The chancellor left APD on European business-class flights at £10 but halved the duty for economy fares to £5. Tax on long-haul economy tickets stays at £20.
A spokeswoman for BA said: “Although we welcome the cut in APD on European flights, it is discriminatory and penalising to business travellers to put £40 on long-haul business flights.”
She claimed the new APD would not deter BAfrom its strategy of trying to attract more premium passengers.
The Guild of Business Travel Agents also criticised the new APD rates.
Chairman Don Lunn said: “I would have liked to have been in a position to congratulate the Government for their good sense in reducing APD for the many business people who travel into Europe. Sadly, that has been undermined by this misjudged introduction of a new differential level, creating yet more complexity for both travellers and the travel trade.”
But Brown’s budget was warmly greeted by ABTA, low-cost airlines and all those who had campaigned for a reduction in APD.
Fair Passenger Duty For All chairman Richard Tobias praised Travel Weekly’s efforts in helping to get the level of APDreduced.
“This is tremendous news, and something Travel Weekly has helped enormously with,” he said. “The chancellor has done more than we wanted him to.”
The Federation of Tour Operators also welcomed the cut in APD for European flights. It said the change will be a welcome incentive for family travel and provide a boost to 2001 summer bookings.
n See Analysis, page 8; and EasyJet chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou in Columnists, page 13