THE Journal today joins North East transport chiefs and regional airports across the country to demand the creation of a “new age” of aviation tax.
In a bid to ensure the prosperity of our airports, which underpin so much of the region’s business, our alliance is calling on the Government to scrap its current taxation policy and replace it with a new policy based on flight congestion.
This is the only way to remove the current, unfair system, which disproportionately impacts so negatively on transport links from the region.
For almost two years The Journal’s A Tax Too Far campaign has campaigned against Air Passenger Duty (APD) which threatens the key air routes operating from our region.
The levy, added to all UK plane tickets, is significantly easier for routes out of South East hubs, such as Heathrow and Gatwick, to withstand.
In the North East the tax, which has risen by more than 2,500% since it was first introduced in 1994, has pushed the margins on some routes to near breaking point – routes that are crucial for the continued economic development of the North East.
Today Newcastle International Airport unveils its response to the consultation on aviation tax, announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the budget.
At the heart of the airport’s stance – a position shared by regional airports across the country, including Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and Leeds-Bradford – is the demand for a congestion charge to be introduced. The proposed congestion charge would finally solve the disparity between North and South air routes, which The Journal has been campaigning for.
Graeme Mason, planning and corporate affairs director at Newcastle International, said: “We have long argued that APD has been having a damaging and disproportionate impact on regions. Regional air services have declined much more rapidly than those out of London over the last few years.
“We have taken legal advice and established differential taxes can legally be introduced. Our proposal is for a APD rates to be calculated according to congestion.
“We feel it is the fairest way for the Treasury to approach the issue. If congested airports were able to expand and become less congested in the future, they could potentially escape the higher rates. Similarly, less congested airports which subsequently filled up and reached congested status could then be liable.
