I once posted on the NCL thread a rough outline of what I thought personally would be an acceptable nationwide rate of APD... I managed to dig it out. Some things have changed (this is from August 2016) but I think it still stands.
"I think the government need to screw their head on to be honest. Brexit was enough of a disappointment, enough said on that. But I think UA might have tried an extended season in 2017, if the pound hadn't dropped the way it did.
I am forever grateful for Emirates at NCL, couldn't imagine the airport without them, they've done a lot of good for us, even if they were branded as a white elephant for pretty much the first 5 years - proved people wrong.
Newcastle is now one of the slowest growing airports in the UK... I don't think we've really been in that position much, I remember many articles from before the recession that said we were the fastest growing. We've been completely overshadowed by long haul and low cost growth at Manchester and Edinburgh... Both of which have benefitted from the lack of a 3rd runway at Heathrow (I almost hope they don't get it). Other similarly sized airports to us are growing, albeit as I mentioned before mainly low cost.
The regional route development fund was, in my opinion ridiculous. That money that was wasted on oddball and marginal routes (most of which never materialised, or went up against existing operators) could have been much better spent on propping up routes like NCL-EWR, BFS-EWR, MAN-PEK, MAN-HKG... Among many others, EDI is after a China route, Fund it! Until it pays for itself, if it doesn't can it!
I just think if they were gonna give money for something, give it for something worthwhile
In my personal opinion, there should be fairer, differentiated bands of APD...
- Central London/Major airports in affluent areas: LCY, LHR and maybe LGW should pay full APD (£13/26 - £76/146)
- Outer london and +20 million ppa airports like LTN, STN, MAN should pay 75% current APD (£9.75/£19.50 - £57/£109.50)
- +10 million ppa airports should have APD devolved 50%: EDI and after this year BHX (£6.50/13 - £38/73)
- +5 million devolved to 25% current rate: GLA, BRS, hopefully soon NCL, LPL, BFS etc. (£3.25/£6.50 - £19/36.50)
- Airports of less than 5 million ppa should have APD fully devolved OR pay a standard flat rate of say... £5 per passenger in all classes of travel over all distances, perhaps 50% delivered back to the airport as a development fee
- Another potential band for consideration could be full devolution for airports with less than 1mppa, and/or full devolution on all non London domestic flights
This presents a lot of potential pros and cons. People who use LHR and LCY are always going to use LHR and LCY, fact... It's a high tax area anyway, why not pay full APD. The regions are much more marginal. Airports like MAN, STN, EDI, LTN, BHX have already paid their worth, so why shouldn't they pay tax? People at EDI and MAN might not be happy at NCL and LBA paying different tax bands, but while it may be a disadvantage (very small one) they already have a lot to offer AND already have a comprehensive network! Very very different to devolved APD to EDI, as they have more to offer to begin with, so would have a double advantage if they devolved their own APD.
The government would still get a good sum of tax from throughout the UK and being honest, the domestic passengers that BA could stand to lose to CDG, AMS, DXB etc. might stand in their favour. Funnel more through DUB and MAD, free LHR slots and it'll all balance out.
You'll probably all think I'm crazy, and the government would laugh me off... But that's what I'd do if I was prime minister
To complicate things more, I'd say airlines should be able to bid for devolution on long haul routes, such as EDI, GLA, MAN, BHX - China, MAN-HKG, NCL-DXB, anything else that may be struggling or need propping up. It could lead to routes like ISB-LBA being restarted... Or dare I say it NCL-NYC?
It's all good for the UK economy, and takes pressure off London airports, while UK passengers still line the government's pockets with the highest APD going (albeit at a lower rate than it used to be)
As I said... Call me crazy but I believe the regions should be given an advantage, not London. That can and do look after themselves"
Obviously I am biased, but finally things are looking up for NCL (although still a little rocky with the incumbent carriers not having grown for a good few years and the recent news of Aer Lingus ((stupidly, might i add!!!)) slashing the current 16 weekly NCL-DUB for a rather pathetic x7 weekly, mid afternoon service) but if EDI and GLA were to have their APD devolved, it would have a severe effect on Newcastle's services, we do very well for a small airport in a poor part of the country, but a lot of people are very price sensitive, and it's not an exaggeration to say they'd drive 2 hours up the A1 to save a tenner!
... maybe it's a good thing that half of the journey from Newcastle to Edinburgh is single carriageway on a God awful excuse for a major road between two capitals, might put some people off.