Air passenger duty

Air Passenger Duty (APD) is an excise duty which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom or Isle of Man airport on an aircraft that has an authorised take-off weight of more than ten tonnes or more than twenty seats for passengers. The duty is not payable by inbound international passengers who are booked to continue their journey (to an international destination) within 24 hours of their scheduled time of arrival in the UK. (The same exemption applies to booked onward domestic flights, but the time limits are shorter and more complex.) If a passenger "stops-over" for more than 24 hours (or the domestic limit, if applicable), duty is payable in full.

Air Passenger Duty charges take distance into account, making long distance flying significantly more expensive. One of the stated benefits of APD was to offset the environmental impact of air travel (see below) but critics point out that the tax takes no account of the efficiency of the aircraft. An airline using an old inefficient plane is treated equally to one using the latest most efficient engines.

Air passenger duty is paid upon booking, but not collected until an occupied seat flies. Should a passenger be unable to fly they have a right to claim the paid tax back from the airline, although many airlines will charge an administrative fee for this service.

A £0 rate of APD applies to flights from Northern Ireland direct to a band B, C or D destination as of 1 November 2011. This is due to Continental Airlines threatening to stop the direct Belfast - Newark flight due to lack of demand because of the tax.

Air Passenger Duty was controversially doubled from 1 February 2007, and the lower rate was extended to all the countries within the Single European Sky. This table summarises the changes:

Here, 'European destinations' includes countries in the European Economic Area and certain other European countries.

Charges rose on 1 November 2009 and again on 1 November 2010. The distance used to calculate the new rate of APD is the distance between London and the capital city of the destination country as summarised below:

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