Agents in Scotland have applauded the ‘blinkers off’ content of yesterday’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Aviation report.
The Scottish Passenger Agents Association welcomed the MPs views, not least for their assertive call for a full review of Air Passenger Duty but also for the support for regional aviation.
SPAA president Kevin Thom said: “The group’s recommendations directly challenge the coalition government’s policies and thinking.
“It urges a full review of the economic impact of APD on the UK economy as a whole and calls for a serious cross-party consultation aimed at forging a robust and coherent aviation policy for the long term future – avoiding a stop/start policy that changes with every new government.”
The SPAA submitted substantial evidence to the group and said its recommendations represent “a firm grasp of the issues surrounding aviation development and its importance to the UK economy – insight which has to date been woefully lacking in the current government”.
Thom added: “We are taxing air passengers more than any other country in the world. The time has come for the government to pay heed to its own colleagues – some of them from its own side of the House.”
Beyond its focus on the future of Heathrow as the UK’s major hub airport, the report also supports – as part of any future aviation policy – the protection and re-development of UK regional air links with the London hub. It highlights that, of 18 regional airports previously offering flights to Heathrow, only six now do so.