LONDON: The UK imposes the highest tax on flying in Europe by a big margin, according to new analysis by the British Air Transport Association (Bata).
Passengers paid over €4 billion (£3.14 billion) in Air Passenger Duty last year, compared with €1 billion (£745 million) raised by Germany’s equivalent aviation tax.
Germany has the second highest air passenger tax in Europe, but it raises £2.4 billion less than APD in the UK.
This is despite British travellers having few alternative flying options for international travel, whereas Germany shares a land border with nine other countries.
The UK and Germany are just two of a handful of European countries to levy an air tax, with many countries abolishing their equivalent taxes to become more competitive.
Those EU countries that do levy an equivalent tax – such as France, Austria and Italy – have much lower rates and raise significantly less revenue than APD.
Official forecasts suggest that the gap between UK APD and the German aviation tax will increase significantly over the next five years, partly because the government chooses to increase APD rates by inflation each year, Bata says.
