Walsh slams Government on APD
06.10.11
British Airways and Iberia parent International Airlines Group (IAG) chief executive Willie Walsh launched a blistering attack on the Government yesterday, travelmole reports. In an interview at the Travel Convention he said air passenger duty (APD) was hugely damaging and accused transport minister Philip Hammond of not being interested in transport.
He said: ‘Philip Hammond is very intelligent but he doesn’t seem to be interested in transport. He looks at APD for the impact it will have on the deficit, not air travel.’ Describing APD as a poll tax on air travel and calling for it to be removed, he added: ‘I believe this government needs to set aside their fixation on the revenue and try to understand the full economic impact of the high unsustainable taxes. [The UK has] had a decline in air travel for three years in a row; we had higher passenger levels in 2004 than now, while everyone else continues to grow.’
Mr Walsh said there was no environmental case for retaining or, as the government plans, raising APD in the future because every other country is expanding rapidly. He warned that if there was no change in policy, some BA routes would be cut.
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