It shouldnt be applied to any airline operating aircraft under 100 seats... it just makes it completely unviable... Does the Train also pay anything similar to APD?!

No because they don't generally cause as much environmental damage.

That said, the whole premise is wrong. The charge should be applied to the operator, based upon a sliding scale according to the level of CO2 that the operating aircraft emits, and it should apply not only to commercial aircraft but also to executive jets, which based upon passengers carried are way more damaging than, for example, a fully loaded passenger aircraft.

The Welsh Affairs committee has been investigating whether it should be devolved or not but unfortunately the UK government isn't obliged to act on their recommendation. The UK government seem set on protecting English airports whether it's to the detriment of Wales or not.

They pay tax on their fuel.

Note the Scottish government have opted not to reduce APD siting climate change reasons - do you guys not read the news?

:ugh:

Yes and that is their decision as they have the power devolved. It should the Welsh governments decision in what they do with APD not the UK government who have stated that they won't devolve it because they want to protect English airports which will always be to the detriment of Wales.

You miss my point - it was the reason why.

When was this?

Note that APD also isn't devolved in Northern Ireland.

During the hearing to the Welsh Affairs committee.

Northern Ireland has long haul APD devolved to it and the chancellor said that the Treasury would investigate whether to devolve short haul APD to Northern Ireland.

Think APD in NI is still down to central govt rather than a local decision.

Anyway, this might trump any APD discussions

Climate change 'may curb growth in UK flying'

Even if it does it still doesn't mean that the Welsh government shouldn't havel APD devolved to it like Scotland and Northern Ireland.

So? It's still devolved and if devolved to Wales could make a difference.

Swimming against a climate change & environmental national & international tide I`m afraid.

The little Swedish girl & the pink boat have effectively changed the future prospects for aviation.

Politicians now require themselves to be seen by the public to be acting as Politicians do.

The ramifications of last weeks vote in the House to `declare` an environment & climate emergency will unfortunately be far reaching.

Any devolution of APD whilst theoretically possible will be a token gesture impossible to be enacted upon.

Considering all parties in the Senned support APD being devolved and I would doubt that it would struggle to. The Welsh government has said once it would be devolved they would then do a review of whether to abolish it or reduce it which would include an environmental impact. I doubt very much people in Wales are going to complain if Cardiff gets more busier especially as many constantly complain that it isn't. As a country Wales can still be environmentally friendly with a vibrant and busy airport. Of course though the climate thing is a good excuse for the UK government to continue to refuse to devolve APD and protect English airports. It will be interesting to see if the Welsh Affairs committee rule that APD should be devolved to Wales how the UK government will respond.

Much is rather inward & insular it might appear.

It will be `interesting` if a rising tide can be influenced then.

Undoubtedly If the APD is to be devolved to Wales the Welsh government would do something about it given their hard efforts and commitment to get CWL commercially viable again and rightly so. As a country it should be allowed to decide the scale and cost of ADP as part of the the tax devolution powers transferred to the Welsh government in the past twelve months.
Whilst English airports may play ' THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD ' card, with all the usual protectionished posturing the Welsh government has every right ,within European rules and competition law, to generate additional revenue for its own exchequer by attracting airlines and customers to use CWL.

The WG has fought for quite a while for APD to be devolved so they would do something, even if it's just cutting it by 25% or 50% or putting it on a sliding scale by the length of the flight.

As for the level playing field card, i have always found it interesting that airports the size of Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol see Cardiff as being either a worry or in their league as to lobby so hard against APD being devolved. If you look at CWL's growth lately, it's not effecting any of those airports growth at all and for MAN CWL's numbers are a drop in the ocean. Though of course what they don't want to admit is that the playing field is tipped vastly in their favour and they don't want that to change.

Primarily a couple of posters here have attempted to raise the real issue affecting all airports now that being one of `climate change` agendas & how they could affect individual dromes`s plans not about the `politics` of Wales.

CAA Stats March 2019
99,055 passengers used the airport in March up 3.2% on 2018. The rolling year was 1,585,058 up 6.8% on 2018.
Atms were 1258 down 0.5% on 2018.
Top 10 routes
1. Amsterdam 14,912 +29%
2. Dublin 13,731 +64%
3. Edinburgh 9054 +22%
4. Alicante 7906 +11%
5. Tenerife South 7355 +1%
6. Belfast City 6569 +4%
7. Doha 6106
8. Paris CDG 5063 -37%
9. Malaga 4751 -3%
10. Arrecife 3314 -1%

Genuine question: why are the scales tipped in the larger airports' favour? You've mentioned this a few times. This implies there's some legal/regulatory/subsidy-drive action which is creating an uneven playing field and that Cardiff is somehow being treated unfairly. Aside from the choice of the market supported by circumstances such as population, economic activity or geographic location, I don't see that Cardiff is at a disadvantage ..... but maybe I've misunderstood your point.

I'm not against devolved powers btw, or indeed Wales setting its APD. But if this was the case, and given the WAG's taxpayer-funded subsidies, surely the scales are being tipped in Cardiff's favour?