THE increases in air passenger duty (APD) imposed by the British government have been denounced and derided “as a disgrace” by the head honcho of British Airways.
Yesterday, before a Hilton Barbados conference room packed with Caribbean cabinet ministers and tourism officials, British Airways’ chief executive officer Willie Walsh said that because of the unfair distance banding on which the tax was based, Caribbean destinations “suffer disproportionately”.
The Irish executive took centre stage with his forthright comments on the opening day of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) leadership strategy conference.
“A family of four flying economy class to Hawaii from London, involving a distance of more than 7 200 miles, would incur an APD charge of £240.
“Yet the same family travelling to Nassau in The Bahamas, which is not much more than half as far, pays £300 and double that if they sit in premium economy.“The tax from the UK to the Caribbean is so disproportionate that the APD revenue taken on a typical flight is nearly ten times the actual carbon cost of that flight,” he said.
Before an audience that included British High Commissioner Paul Brummell and members of the British media, Walsh said that since last November when APD to the Caribbean went up, arrivals from Britain had declined by 12 per cent.
“Our flight from London to Barbados yesterday [Saturday], the total CO2 generated by that flight, the total cost of offsetting it, was met by just 20 of our customers sitting in our World Traveller Plus.
“Twenty of the people travelling on that flight paid sufficient tax to offset the total CO2 produced by that trip. The other 200 passengers were paying for an environmental cost that did not exist. This tax is a disgrace,” he added.Walsh said some of the sudden drop in arrivals from Britain could be attributed to the economic recession, but it was clear the APD had played a major part because the majority of Caribbean countries had seen larger decreases from Britain than anywhere in Europe.
“Even if families find the extra money to pay the tax, they will have less to spend when they arrive here. So they may stay for shorter periods, eat out fewer times, take fewer excursions and spend less on local goods and services,” he said.
It is not just about APD: the British government expects revenue from its aviation tax to total £2.3 billion this year. In five years’ time, it expects receipts to be 65 per cent higher.
“I do not think passenger volumes will grow 65 per cent in five years, so further increases in tax rates must be on the horizon.”
Walsh said British Airways would start selling tickets today for San Juan, a new route, which he said demonstrated the benefit of BA’s new transatlantic joint business with American Airlines.
