Ryanair is to refund Air Passenger Duty earlier than other airlines to enable children to avoid the tax when flying over the Easter holidays.
The budget carrier is to refund the £13 children’s APD on flights from the UK from March 27 – six weeks earlier than the May 1 date announced for the abolition of the tax for children under 12 by Chancellor George Osborne in the autumn statement.
Refunding APD for children over the Easter holiday period will cost up to £2 million, Ryanair estimated.
Chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said: “Ryanair welcomes Chancellor Osborne’s decision to scrap APD for children under-12 on flights departing the UK from 1st May 2015.
“To ensure even greater savings for the millions of UK families flying Ryanair at Easter, Ryanair will refund APD for all children who check in on flights departing the UK from 27th March 2015 onwards.
“Families flying Ryanair already enjoy the lowest fares and fantastic discounts with our “Family Extra” service and this will ensure even more UK families make even greater savings next Easter flying with Ryanair.”
But he added: “While we welcome this partial reduction in APD, we call on the UK government to abolish APD, and allow UK tourism to return to growth and become competitive once more.
“Tourist traffic in Ireland has risen by almost 10% since APD was abolished in April, with the VAT received from the additional tourist spend far exceeding the loss of APD. The UK should follow suit and axe the tax for all.”