Burdensome Tax Depresses Demand and Unfairly Penalizes Customers

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines, issued the following statement today opposing the United Kingdom's increase to the Air Passenger Duty (APD) by 2.5 percent. The APD is the largest single tax passengers face anywhere in the world, with the increase, amounting to about $107 for economy tickets and $215 on all other cabins for flights to the United States.

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"Increasing this already oppressive tax depresses the demand for air travel to and from the UK and unfairly penalizes airline customers," said A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio.  "Air transportation is an indispensable engine of economic growth, and if the UK wants to encourage travel and tourism spending, it should abolish--not increase--this tax."

Increasing the APD is at odds with the UK government's stated goal of attracting an additional 10 million new passengers by 2020 and to enhance the competitiveness of the UK economy.   A4A joins the 300,000 individuals and companies and 100 Members of Parliament in calling on the UK Government to urgently review the APD.

ABOUT A4A
Annually, commercial aviation helps drive more than $1 trillion in U.S. economic activity and more than 10 million U.S. jobs. A4A airline members and their affiliates transport more than 90 percent of all U.S. airline passenger and cargo traffic. For more information about the airline industry, visit www.airlines.org and follow us on Twitter @airlinesdotorg.

SOURCE Airlines for America