The 2010 austerity budget is likely to increase the cost of flying.

Airport news for Flights,Travel on 24/06/2010.

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The latest government budget looks set to pile the pressure on families. A drastic increase in Air Passenger Duty (APD) is already slated to come into effect in November. The higher APD means higher costs for family air travel - a typical family trip to the USA for a will see APD rising from around £200 to £300. The latest budget indicates that the government intends to double the revenues it generates from air travel by 2015, triggering concerns that future tax hikes are in the works for aviation.

From November, a family of four flying to Florida will pay 33% more in APD. Industry bodies poring over the text of the budget have identified what they say are worrying indications that further tax increases are planned. The Treasury earned £1.9 billion from taxes on aviation last year. According to the 2010 budget, that is forecast to rise to £3.8 billion by 2014-2015. Flying Matters, an air-industry lobby group, is worried that the wording of the budget is harbinger of further tax increases that will end up being borne by consumers.

The Air Transport Users Council said that asking everybody to share the cost of addressing pollution was fair enough but it seems a bit much to ask passengers to pay 33 per cent more. British Airways thought the threatened per-plane tax would do a lot of damage. The airline says a per-plane tax would be of no help to the environment but would both damage the UK’s economic competitiveness and likely mean fewer long-haul destinations out of Heathrow.

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