Originally Posted by
MerchantVenturer
http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articl...-apd-in-budget
The Airline Operators Association (AOA) has been vocal on the APD subject again this week demanding that the chancellor reduces APD by at least half in next month's Budget. I doubt that they expect that he will.
However, their spokesman does make the valid point that 'the prime minister was quite clear during the 2015 General Election campaign that he would not allow unfair tax competition to damage UK airports'.
The AOA also wants the government to respond to a review of the impact of devolving APD that it launched in the summer of last year with a discussion paper that set out three possible ways of mitigating the effects on English airports if APD is devolved to the other countries in the UK.
The options involved variable rates of APD in England (which might be illegal under EU rules - the government was to seek advice from Europe. I wonder if it did and if so what that advice was); devolving APD within England; aid to regional airports although anywhere with a throughput of over 3 mppa would not be eligible except in some exceptional cases where the limit could be 5 mppa.
The options are said to have drawn 'universal criticism'.
So if Wales is get APD powers it will be fascinating to see what the chancellor proposes to compensate English airports. Probably nothing in reality although there may be some political spin to cloud the issue.
It's not just Wales.....remember that.....its Scotland and Northern Ireland too