EasyJet says Air Passenger Duty tax unfair on families and bad for the environment, ahead of planned increases

Currently private jets, cargo aircraft and foreign passengers changing planes are exempt from the tax, whilst long haul passengers are currently under taxed, according to budget airline easyJet.

The poll, which was commissioned by easyJet, was held ahead of an increase in APD, due to take effect on 1 November.

EasyJet said that the current rules were “perverse” in that they hit ordinary British families hardest and did nothing to help the environment. The airline said that the rules meant full planes travelling to Europe were taxed more than half-empty planes on long-haul flights which do more damage to the environment per passenger.

Andy Harrison, Chief Executive of easyJet, said, “Air Passenger Duty is a daft tax that the Government promised to reform. It broke its promise and increased the tax burden on the average family instead.

“People don’t understand why their tax is going up again while pampered fat cats on private jets, cargo planes and foreign transfer passengers still don’t pay any tax at all. How can the Government justify a tax break for 20 million foreign transfer passengers while charging a British family of four "??44 to go to Europe?

“We need to make air tax greener and fairer now. It should be reformed from a poll tax into a flight tax that taxes emissions, not families.”