APD Solutions
We're all missing the point here. The elephant in the room. Commercial aviation must strive to prosper DESPITE politicians, it will never prosper BECAUSE of them. We're mainly aviation types on here. We look for logical solutions to address market distortions in the industry. Politicians have very different priorities.
Top of the list for politicians is the requirement to get re-elected at regular intervals. In order to achieve this they must project the "right image". And that means regularly acknowledging in public that 'climate change' is killing the planet and that aeroplanes are the leading culprit for this. OK, genuine science can demonstrate that there has been NO global warming for 18 years now (hence the rebrand from 'global warming' to 'climate change') but that isn't the point. It is all about image and perception. They must regularly bow before the altar of the global warming cult or risk the wrath of the media and the implications of that on their job security. And politicians do understand the need to spin. Keep mentioning Arctic ice-melt and never mention record ice-accumulation levels in the Antarctic. That sort of thing. Thriving polar bear populations … shhhh! … that doesn't fit the narrative!
We are now in a climate (pardon the pun) where politicians MUST be seen to use the train rather than aircraft. Lots of examples of rail photo-opportunities from the London to Scotland milk-runs in recent weeks. That is no coincidence. I think it was Boris who had to put out a statement afew months ago confirming that he had used the train when publicly accused of flying to an event. Note also the tendency of premiership football teams and celebs to avoid being seen flying as well … the Manchester clubs always used to fly to London fixtures and vice-versa. It rarely happens now.
This is the backdrop. Climate change. Demonisation of carbon (essential to all plant-life). It is career suicide for politicians to to be seen to challenge the eco-extremist lobby. And afew of them are actually daft enough to buy into the religion wholesale. It is understandable … most MP's have never held a real job and have only mixed with the Westminster chatterati. They are unfamiliar with the real world.
So now lets get back to the point of all this. The measures we on PPRuNe are discussing require politicians to support commercial aviation as a net positive to society. We look to them to make informed decisions based on economic logic. We call out APD for the abomination that it is. We point out that it suppresses tourism to the UK, very likely to an extent higher than the tax it raises. We tell them it is costing jobs. But the politicians won't act. And its not party-political either. The Laboristas gave birth to the abomination, the Contras turned up its damage settings. The Beardy Democrats want us all back in caves. Which of these will lead the charge to restore sanity to tax policy in aviation?
The ones with the common sense to actually understand the issues dare not upset the eco-loons and their rabid supporters in the press pack. The rest are committed global warming extremists themselves. Until a large enough lobby starts seriously pointing out climate realities to these groups the status quo will remain. It will be unthinkable for politicians to be seen to encourage airline growth. Half of them look on every air service axed and every airline failure as progress in the right direction.
So we can discuss logical solutions all we like. We can discuss beneficial changes to APD. We can discuss solutions for SE capacity. I actually get the impression that a small number of pols are secretly quite pro-aviation, but it is still too risky for them to dare to utter such heresy in public. It is up to us in the industry to spread the message that aviation is not an evil planet-killer industry. A good start would be for airlines and airports to publicly promote the good they do, the benefits they bring, and to put forward the truth about climate. Instead, they tow the line of the eco-extremist agenda telling the world about their glorious carbon-offset schemes, how 'green' they are and similar nonsense. Airports (yes, you Manchester) switch off essential escalators in the name of saving the planet. Step one is to lose aviation's own timid 'Mea Culpa' attitude. Then to gradually create a climate in which afew politicians will be empowered to cautiously utter the truth in public without threat of immediate media condemnation and the risk of deselection.
But as things are now, we must not look to pols for salvation. They're concerned with maintaining the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. That means paying regular homage to eco-extremism. If we want positive solutions for aviation, we must seek them from within the industry itself. Long term there is hope … Dutch and Irish politicians eventually scrapped their APD equivalents. Because ultimately, when the feet are held to the fire, money talks!