UK Air Passenger Duty doubles tomorrow

Increases in the UK Air Passenger Duty announced on 6 December 2006 by the Chancellor in the 2006 Pre-Budget Report (see pages 174 and 175) come into effect on 1 February 2006.

Ryanair, British Airways and other airlines are reported to have criticised the increases while environmental groups have stressed the importance of tackling growing emissions from aviation.

The BBC has recently published Questions and Answers on the increases and also carried a story predicting chaos at airports when airlines look to recover the increase from passengers who purchased tickets before the announcement was made for travel on or after 1 February.

New Zealand faced similar issues when increased per passenger airport security charges were introduced but the lead time was much longer.