Well the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has delivered his budget to the nation.
Rather than concentrate on the everything else that will make British Citizen’s life more of a living hell, lets concenrate on the big news for travellers. And it is good – as Air Passenger Duty (APD) has been FROZEN at the current rates.
The bad news however, is that APD will go up, but it will be delayed for a year.
Taxation by per plane, rather than per passenger, would be illegal under international law according to the Chancellor, therefore that pricing model is out of the window.
What will be new is that APD will now be enforced on Private Jet flights – so there’s no escaping that now.
For those unfamiliar, these are the current APD rates from flight departing from the United Kingdom, and is levied from the depature airport to the arrival airport, and zoned to the nationals capital from London to be complex. This is levived after any fuel surcharge, security or tax fees.
| Reduced Rate | Standard Rate | |||||
| Band A | 0–2,000 miles from London | £12 | £24 | |||
| Band B | 2,001–4,000 miles from London | £60 | £120 | |||
| Band C | 4,001–6,000 miles from London | £75 | £150 | |||
| Band D | over 6,000 miles from London | £85 | £170 |
So yes, it’s a mess, and as I’ve written about a few times, there are ways to get out of paying masses of APD… it requires time however and planning. Have a look at my previous writings on the matter.
And of course, it goes without saying this is yet another taxation exercise by the government, as I haven’t seen any evidence of this tax being used for “Green” Projects.
