The trade can expect an incoming Tory government to reform Air Passenger Duty (APD), but not necessarily to cut the increased rates on flights due this November and next.
Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers described APD reform as “urgent”. She told Travel Weekly: “We are committed to a reform of APD and to providing incentives to fly greener planes. We are well aware of the issues.
“We are looking at it with great urgency, and I have raised it with [shadow chancellor] George Osborne and [party leader] David Cameron.”
The industry is lobbying vigorously against the sharp rise in APD on long-haul flights due from November 2010, which will follow a switch to four bands of duty and increased rates this November.
However, Villiers sees the tax continuing after airlines join the European emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2012, in line with current Treasury policy. The industry wants APD scrapped once it faces the costs of emissions trading.
Villiers said: “I do not see emissions trading as an alternative to APD. Both ETS and APD, or a version of it, need to play a part.”
The shadow transport secretary repeated her intention to veto construction of a third runway at Heathrow and to “encourage a switch from air to rail”.