Following the Scottish governments consultation on Air Passenger duty Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s UK Director commented;
LUTON, UK, 2016-Mar-16 — /Travel PR News/ — Following the Scottish governments consultation on Air Passenger duty Sophie Dekkers, easyJet’s UK Director commented; “easyJet has long campaigned for the removal of Air Passenger Duty. We know that its impact is most keenly felt in Scotland where passengers flying to and from other parts of the UK pay £13 on each flight.
“We strongly welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to halve the tax for passengers. They have rightly recognised that cutting the tax will boost tourism, investment and business activity in Scotland. Research by PwC has shown that abolishing APD would have a positive effect on jobs and growth, as well as public finances in the longer term. So it is important that the cut takes effect in full in 2018, so that the benefits for Scotland are felt as quickly as possible.
“To achieve a step change in connectivity for Scotland, by airlines adding new destinations and extra flights, there also needs to be a step change in the taxation. A single 50% cut is the way to deliver this. Too small a change risks not attracting the extra aircraft and new routes to Scotland.
“If there is a 50% cut in 2018 we would expect to increase our flights to and from Scotland by around 30%. easyJet is proud to be Scotland’s largest airline and this would mean the current 5.5 million passengers we carry each year could increase to over 7 million. This would deliver more services and routes for passengers in Scotland, including to European cities without a current direction connection, as well as the economic benefits of a larger easyJet operation in Scotland.”
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