Departure tax rise hits air prices

The hike, which will particularly hit long-haul passengers travelling in business and first-class cabins, has been condemned by British Airways and the UK travel organisation Abta.

BA said the effect of the two increases would mean the cost of a flight for a family of four to Australia for travel after November 1 next year would rise by at least £340.

Sunday's increase will see APD for short-haul flights of less than 2,000 miles in economy-class seats rising from £10 to £11, while for journeys of between 2,001 miles and 4,000 miles the APD will increase from £40 to £45 for economy class passengers and from £80 to £90 for travellers in premium seats (business class and first class).

For journeys of 4,001 miles to 6,000 miles, the economy APD goes up from £40 to £50 and the premium from £80 to £100. For flights of more than 6,000 miles, the economy APD goes up from £40 to £55 and the premium from £80 to £110.

The November 2010 APD increases will see economy-class passengers on the shortest flights paying £12 - a rise of just £1. But for premium-class passengers on the longest flights (more than 6,000 miles) APD will soar from the November 2009 figure of £110 to as high as £170.

BA's customer services director Silla Maizey said: "These huge tax hikes are very bad news for holidaymakers - and completely unjustified. The Government says the tax is environmental, but its own figures show that aviation already meets its environmental costs without any increase in APD."

Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said: "Although Sunday's increase is going ahead, we'll continue our efforts to make the Government see sense on next year's rises, which will be even higher than Sunday's. It may well be by then that we have a different political party in power and it will also be even clearer just how damaging these increases are both to the UK economy and those nations worldwide that depend heavily on tourism."

He said he was urging all Abta members "to raise customers' awareness of this socially-useless tax which even the Government has stopped pretending is solely a 'green' tax but in fact a significant money raiser for the Treasury."

A Treasury spokesman said: "The Government maintains that air travel should pay its fair share in tax. APD is an important contributor to the public finances, while helping the Government achieve its environmental goals."