The head of the International Air Transport Association denounced Air Passenger Duty (APD) as “potty” and slammed the UK government for its aviation policy in a speech in London on Wednesday.
IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani suggested airline passengers were subject to “punitive” rates of tax to pay for a failure to regulate the banks.
Bisignani demanded the immediate scrapping of APD, saying: “Environmental policy should not be designed around paying the bills for the government’s failure to effectively regulate the financial sector.”
He further denounced the government for blocking plans for a third runway at Heathrow, warning: “London Heathrow is becoming a secondary hub. Amsterdam has five runways. Paris, Madrid and soon Frankfurt will have four.”
Bisignani ridiculed the notion that a high-speed rail network would relieve the pressure on UK airports. He said: “If building 2,000 metres of runway takes decades, building or upgrading 650km of rail will take several lifetimes.”
The IATA chief also hit out at the Civil Aviation Authority for permitting charges to rise at Heathrow, describing airport regulation in Britain as “broken”.
He quoted a World Economic Forum report on Travel and Tourism Competitiveness which ranked the UK 121st out of 133 countries on airline taxes and airport charges.
In addition, Bisignani criticised plans for the government to privatise its 49% stake in UK air traffic control system Nats, where he sits on the board. Earlier this week the Airline Group of seven UK carriers which owns most of the remaining stake in the system also slammed the sale.
The airlines want the government toretain at least a 25% holding and have threatened to pull out of Nats if the privatisation goes ahead.
Bisignani urged the government to reconsider. He said: “Nats has delivered many benefits with industry and government working together as shareholders.”
The IATA director general added: “It’s a mystery to me why the government seems so intent on destroying [UK aviation‘s] competitiveness.” He warned:
“Any industry can only take so many knocks before the damage is permanent. We must say ‘enough’.
Bisignani was speaking at the Aviation Club in London.