ELFAA condemns UK Government’s further smash and grab on air passengers

European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) urged (30-Oct-2009) the UK Government to withdraw the increase to APD, which took effect from 01-Nov-2009. ELFAA believes that the APD is an additional unnecessary cost which inevitably falls back on the consumer and hampers the competitiveness of the UK's aviation sector. [more]

ELFAA: "It is widely recognised that aviation has a critical role to play in getting the European economies up and running once again. Increasing this already unfair tax on one of the UK's key industries is akin to biting the hand that feeds it. The reneging on the undertaking in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report to reform this unashamed tax take on individual citizens and base it instead on actual emissions per flight compounds the injustice. Once again, the UK is showing itself to be helplessly out of step with international trends which have seen other European countries withdrawing their equivalent of APD," John Hanlon Secretary-General. Source: ELFAA, 30-Oct-2009.