First Choice has called on the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown to change his Government’s position on Air Passenger Duty after receiving 55,000 complaints from its customers.
The managing director of First Choice Holidays’ Mainstream Sector, Dermot Blastland, said APD penalises British Holidaymakers and does nothing to help the environment.
He also claimed the recent increases in APD had jeopardised his company’s carbon offsetting scheme.
First Choice Holidays pledged to match its customer’s contributions when it introduced an offsetting programme earlier this year but later postponed this until November because of rising APD costs.
The company claims the increased amount of APD raised by First Choice Mainstream customers alone is £21 million a year – roughly three times the costs of offsetting their carbon emissions.
Blastland said: “Our customers want Mr Brown to know how unfair they find this tax, and how it adds significant costs to the price of their holiday.”
He also criticised the structure of the APD bands which mean any flight other than economy is classed as a business flight.
First Choice created a special postcard for customers to inform it of their views on APD. It planned to deliver the replies to Gordon Brown in a bid to get him to reconsider his stance on APD but it has yet to receive a response from the Government.
The company is calling on the Government to introduce a fairer alternative to APD, such as the inclusion of aviation in an EU Emissions Trading Scheme.