Regional airports across the UK, including Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA), have today signed a joint letter urging the Government to revise aviation taxes in recognition that the current Air Passenger Duty (APD) has a damaging and disproportionate impact on the regions across the UK.

Airport owners Peel Airports, is due to submit its detailed response to an HM Treasury consultation on Reform of Air Passenger Duty later this week highlighting the impact that the current aviation taxation system has on its business and serious concerns over the prospect of ‘double taxation’ and further increases in flying taxes when aviation enters the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012.

As part of this response however, a group of regional airports across the UK are also proposing that the Government abandon the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to aviation taxes and replace it with a charge on the busiest airports, as defined by ACL, the recognised UK slot coordination authority.

APD in the UK is already up to 8.5 times more than the European average. Many European countries have either already abandoned their aviation taxes, or indicated that they will do so, due to the negative effects on their economies. It is now very difficult for regional airports in the UK to attract airlines to commence new services, which in turn impacts on the local economy, jobs and inward investment.

The tax disproportionately affects airports outside of London’s Heathrow and Gatwick and regional airports have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn. Without decisive action, the gap between the largest London airports and those in the regions will go on increasing.

Craig Richmond CEO of Peel Airports commented, “Reform of the current APD is essential to help UK airports be more competitive against our European rivals and to stimulate passenger demand during what continues to be one of the most challenging economic environments that our industry has ever experienced.

If the Government is committed to constraining the growth of the congested London airports and prefers to see regional airports take up this capacity, then the proposal put forward by a number of regional airports including Liverpool, to replace APD with a charge on the busiest airports need to be seriously considered.”

As the Treasury’s consultation on the reform of Air Passenger Duty (APD) enters its final week – ends on 17 June – ABTA is calling on the government to rethink the levels and structure of the tax which is the highest in the world.

APD is based on distance travelled and at present a family of four flying to Europe will pay £48 in APD, to the USA the tax increases to £240, to Australia the tax increases to £340 – all based on the economy rate – however, the cost of the tax is set to rise again next April by twice the cost of inflation.

Only five European countries impose some form of aviation tax with the UK’s level higher than anywhere else in the world. Denmark, Norway, Malta and Holland have all scrapped similar taxes as the revenue raised was outweighed by the damage caused to their economies. Ireland has pledged to follow suit shortly.

ABTA is part of the Fair Tax on Flying www.facebook.com/afairtaxonflying alliance that has united the travel industry to raise awareness of the high levels and illogical structure of APD, which is damaging UK travel and tourism and adding an additional tax burden to holidaymakers and business travellers at a time when fuel prices are reaching record levels.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive, said: “It is vital that the Government understands the damaging impact that APD is having on the tourism industry in the UK. We already pay the highest levels of aviation tax in the world, and if the Government goes ahead with its double-inflationary increase and levies an ETS tax on top of this in 2012, we will see another eye-watering increase in the tax burden on the industry and on holidaymakers and business travellers flying in and out of the UK. The industry is willing to pay its way, but this clearly puts us at a competitive disadvantage when compared with our European neighbours and punishes the travelling public unfairly.”

ABTA encourages all of its Members and any others who feel strongly to make their own submissions to the treasury at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/2011budget_airpassenger.htm

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Wizz Air celebrated its 7th anniversary on 19 May 2011.

The airline’s first flight took to the skies on 19 May 2004 from Katowice in Southern Poland. Since then, the airline has gone on to become the largest airline in Central and Eastern Europe operating from 15 bases, in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Lithuania.

Wizz Air has carried more than 10 million passengers in the past 12 months – up by more than 22% compared with the previous 12 months.

The airline has one of the youngest fleets in the world, consisting of 35 Airbus A320s with a further 104 aircraft on order, which will deliver the airline’s growth plans for many years to come.

Wizz Air offers flights from Glasgow Prestwick, Doncaster/Sheffield, Liverpool, Luton and Cork airports.

A recent survey of 154 MPs has shown that more than two thirds did not know about the double taxation that airport passengers are facing in 2012.

The survey, conducted by ComRes and Airport Operators Association (AOA), found that majority of the MPs were unfamiliar with the UK aviation industry’s planned entry into the EU Emissions Trading scheme (EU ETS) in 2012. This additional tax, coupled with a substantial increase in Air Passenger Duty (APD) next year, will mean that air passengers face double taxation on flights.

Of those MPs who did know about the additional tax caused by the introduction of the EU ETS, 63% believe that APD should be reduced or abolished.

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Airport Operators Association, said: “The ComRes / AOA survey shows that the majority of MPs do not know that air passengers will face onerous double taxation on flights from 2012. It is shocking that our policy-makers are unaware that holidaymakers and business people will be paying a new cost on flying – the EU Emissions Trading Scheme – as well as even more APD, already the highest in the world.

“Of those MPs who do actually know what is going on, more than 60% support the reduction or scrapping of APD to encourage economic growth by ensuring that passengers do not face a further tax rise in what are already tough economic times for everybody.”

Andrew Hawkins, Chairman of ComRes added: “Fuel duty in one form or another has long proved a toxic issue politically and the impact of the ETS should not be ignored by politicians. It is notable that of MPs who are aware of it, the majority view is to ameliorate its impact by varying Air Passenger Duty. The ETS issue has all the hallmarks of a powerfully dangerous political mix.”

This April was the busiest April on record for Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) with almost half a million passengers travelling through the airport.

The combination of four weeks of school holidays, Easter, The Royal Wedding and the May bank holiday contributed to passenger numbers rising 33% on April 2010, which was affected by the ash cloud, and 9% higher than the previous busiest April in 2007. In fact, airport passenger numbers rose to levels normally experienced at the height of the summer holiday season.

Robin Tudor, Head of PR for Peel Airports commented, “We knew passenger numbers this April would be significantly higher than last year, having seen over 100,000 passengers affected by the Icelandic volcano in April 2010, however this year’s bumper April holiday period saw volumes of passengers surpass even our expectations. The region’s holidaymakers clearly took advantage of the way the holiday periods fell and the great choice of low cost flights available from JLA.

“Over the Easter, Royal Wedding and May Bank Holiday period alone, almost 200,000 passengers chose to travel via the Airport – it’s a pity a late Easter and a Royal Wedding doesn’t happen every year.”

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) is gearing up for a bumper Easter and May Day holiday period, as thousands of passengers from across the region take advantage of the extended holidays created by four Bank holidays within eleven days.

This is the first national holiday period of 2011 and is traditionally the busiest time of the year so far for Liverpool Airport, however the combination of a late Easter and the additional Bank Holiday for the Royal Wedding, means that many passengers can go away for up to 11 days, by only having to take three days off work.

As a consequence, approximately 190,000 passengers are expected to pass through the Airport over the eleven day period.

This year, the Airport will feature direct flights to more than 80 destinations across 22 countries with airlines such as easyjet, Ryanair, Flybe, Wizz Air and Eastern Airways. In addition, KLM are offering flights to hundreds of destinations across the world from Liverpool, with onward connections via Amsterdam Schiphol.

This year, new services have already commenced to Brussels, Gibraltar, Toulon, Kos and Rhodes, with flights to Tallinn in Estonia commencing during the Easter break.

Ryanair’s first ever Liverpool flights to Greece took off yesterday, 13 April, with the departure of its inaugural flight to the Greek Island of Kos.

Flights to Kos look likely to become one of the airline’s most popular destinations of the summer season with record sales levels being reported since the flights went on sale just over two months ago.

Ryanair’s summer season flights to Rhodes are set to start today with their flights to Lodz in Poland resuming at the weekend.

Friday, 1 April, saw the start of Ryanair’s new services from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Toulon in the South of France.

Flights from Liverpool to Toulon now operate twice a week, Fridays and Mondays, with early morning departures.

This is the first time flights have operated to Toulon from Liverpool which is a new gateway to the Provence and Cote D’Azur regions of southern France.

Later this month Ryanair will begin flights to Greece for the first time from Liverpool, operating to the Greek islands of Kos and Rhodes as part of this year’s Summer Sun destinations from JLA.

Ryanair will also be adding more capacity on their Summer Sun destinations this year as demand for traditional short haul sunshine destinations to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands has increased.

A recent report published by well respected aviation industry consultants RDC Aviation looking at passenger throughput across UK airports in 2010, shows that despite a challenging year, Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) remains tenth in a league table of UK airports in terms of passenger throughput.

The report also revealed that of 50 airports across the UK, JLA was only one of nine to experience growth in 2010, with a 3% year on year increase.

The report highlights that Liverpool’s position improves further when comparing purely scheduled passenger traffic across the UK, with airlines such as easyjet, Ryanair, KLM, Wizz Air, Eastern Airways and Flybe helping JLA become the UK’s eighth busiest airport for scheduled passengers.

JLA handled more than 5 million passengers in 2010. In particular, a full year of KLM flights helped to boost passenger numbers with the region’s travelers having the opportunity to travel on long haul services from Liverpool via the airline’s Amsterdam Schiphol hub. Ryanair grew their business from Liverpool by 9% during the year.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) along with the Airport Operators Association (AOA) – the trade association that represents UK airports, today welcomed the fact that the Chancellor has listened to submissions made by JLA and other AOA members and decided not to increase Air Passenger Duty (APD) for this year.

However Management at the Airport are warning that passengers still face the prospect of ‘double taxation’ and further increases in flying taxes when aviation enters the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2012; and also that the Chancellor may raise APD next year.

APD in the UK is already up to 8.5 times more than the European average. Many European countries have either already abandoned their aviation taxes, or indicated that they will do so, due to the negative effects on their economies including: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Malta.

Even with the freeze, the UK economy is already losing £750m in GDP and 18,000 jobs as a direct result of the recent November 2010 rises in APD, not to mention the thousands of UK tourism jobs lost because less people can afford to holiday here. Scotland alone is estimated to be losing over 1.2m passengers, 148,000 tourists and £77m in revenue in the next three years.

Craig Richmond, CEO of Peel Airports commented, “We are pleased that the Government has listened to our concerns, however this is only the beginning and we urge anyone who travels by air, both on business or leisure, to continue to lobby Government further.

Unlike the vast majority of European nations who experienced air passenger growth last year, the UK saw a decline. A ‘double taxation’ next year will simply deter even more passengers from flying to and from the UK in future.”

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Airport Operators Association, said: “UK airports cautiously welcome the fact that Air Passenger Duty is not going up immediately, though would not support the delayed increase coming into effect next year. We now call on the Chancellor to emulate the decisions of European competitor nations to reduce or abolish APD in the UK.

“Additionally, many people aren’t aware that UK aviation is also joining the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in 2012. This means that as things stand passengers will be subject to the costs of both ETS as well as aviation tax, so that holidaymakers and business travellers will effectively be paying double taxation next year.

“The Chancellor now needs to set out the government’s approach on reducing taxes on flying when the ETS comes in, otherwise passengers will simply be facing an actual tax increase later on in this 2011-12 financial year. There should be no double taxation of British aviation.”

UK air passengers fell by 3% in 2010, with the decline far worse than the majority of other European countries.