Regional airports are feeling the squeeze from the doubling of Air Passenger Duty, following complaints from low-cost carriers about falling load factors.
Liverpool Airport managing director Neil Pakey said passenger numbers have fallen and carbon-offset programmes suffered due to Gordon Brown’s tax hike in February.
Pakey told a conference on aviation and climate change last week: “APD is affecting load factors and yield. It is discriminatory and damaging to the regions, and UK regional airports are losing business to mainland Europe.”
Pakey added: “It is bleak for Liverpool. We are starting to feel the pinch.”
Pakey is a director of Peel Airports, which holds significant stakes in three other regional airports – Durham Tees Valley, Doncaster Sheffield and Sheffield City.
He said: “Obviously, the doubling of APD affects the price-sensitive part of the market. It is a tax on the poorer part of society who can’t afford an extra £10. Even Ryanair is starting to feel the pinch.”
Pakey noted that airports operator BAA revealed poor passenger figures for April, and Prestwick had reported 3% fewer passengers year on year in the same month. EasyJet and Ryanair both reported decreases in load factors in March, with Ryanair blaming the APD rise.
The increase has also dented support for carbon-offset schemes, said Pakey.
“We were working with local schemes and going into schools and communities. But [the projects] died when APD was doubled. It is worse for the environment, not better,” he said.
Pakey warned the decline could land Liverpool Airport back where it was a decade ago on global distribution systems.
“The Isle of Man was our main gateway for scheduled flights 10 years ago,” he said. “We have EasyJet and Ryanair now. But if we lose our links from London City, the Isle of Man will be our only gateway again on GDSs.”