 |
British Airways planes |
| |
June 24 – The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) is examining ways to fight the UK’s Airline Passenger Duty (APD), now that the new coalition government in Britain has put off a decision on changing it.
It was expected that the announcement of the replacement of the APD with a per plane duty – a promise made by the new coalition government of David Cameron – would have been made during the emergency budget presentation on Tuesday.
However, the controversial tax remains untouched, which means that not only will it stay in place for now, but an increase in November also appears to be set.
CTO Chairman John Maginley said that while the Caribbean understands that the British government needs tax revenue, the current structure of the APD is “unfair and unbalanced”.
Under the APD system, countries are placed into one of four bands, depending on the distance of their capital city from London.
All Caribbean countries have been placed in the third highest band, so a passenger leaving a UK airport in Economy Class would pay an APD of £50 (US$75). In November, that will go up to £75 (US$112). |
