CHEAP flights post-Brexit: Why cost of holidays could FALL after leaving EU
FLIGHTS might get significantly cheaper post-Brexit, according to Britain’s Chancellor.
Philip Hammond has suggested travel costs might decrease once the UK has left the EU.
The Chancellor failed to scrap the Air Passenger Duty (APD) when he handed down his Autumn Statement in November - much to the dismay of the travel industry.
Many airlines had called on the Treasury to scrap the passenger tax, which has been ranked as the highest in the world.
But Mr Hammond defended his decision based on Brexit - promising to conduct a review of the APD once the landmark exit has occurred.
Today's Supreme Court ruling over Brexit is the latest step in Britain leaving the EU.
The court ruled that Article 50 cannot be triggered without parliamentary consent, so Brexit will go to vote before taking effect.
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In documents published with his November speech, Mr Hammond said: “Given the strong interaction with EU law, the Government does not intend to take specific measures now, but intends to review this area again after the UK has exited from the EU.”
Scrapping the APD post-Brexit would have a sizeable impact on the price of airfares for people flying out of the UK.
Passengers are currently charged between £13-£78 for short-haul flights and £75-£450 for long-haul flights, over and above the price of the airfare.
The British Infrastructure Group (BIG) had called upon the UK Government to cut APD by 50 per cent in the 2016 Autumn Statement.
The BIG report said: “UK APD is three times more expensive than the next equivalent tax in the EU and four times higher than Germany.
“The astronomical charges levied on airline passengers by the Government, especially on long haul flights, are the highest of any roughly equivalent air travel taxes the world.
“APD has disproportionate effects on different tickets, disadvantaging flights to the Far East and especially to developing economies.
“Reductions and abolitions would lead to strengthened growth in the overall economy and any lost revenues would be quickly replaced in other taxes as a result.”
Regional English airports have also expressed concern over a devolution of the tax to Scotland.
This would allow large airports like Edinburgh to scrap the tax and draw customers away from airports in England.
Scotland’s government has already announced plans to reduce the APD by 50 per cent by 2021, with reductions to be phased in from 2018.
Mr Hammond said: “The Government is publishing a summary of responses to the consultation on how to support regional airports in England from the potential effects of APD devolution.”
