Silverjet boss slams air tax plans
Head of business class airline questions Treasury plans to hike air passenger duty
Head of business class airline questions Treasury plans to hike air passenger duty
Lawrence Hunt, the chief executive of Silverjet, has criticised Treasury
proposals to increase air passenger duties on flights between London and New
York that only have business class seats.
The Treasury
is considering doubling the duty for such flights from £40 to £80.
‘The government has yet to explain precisely how the additional revenue
generated by the air tax will be used.
‘Despite claiming that the funds would be put into environmental initiatives
absolutely no plans have been made public so this becomes nothing more than
another money-making exercise,’ the head of the luxury airliner said.
The Treasury argues that the proposals will correct an anomaly in the current
rules that allows passengers on flights with only one cabin class to pay a lower
rate of air passenger duty.
Hunt responded by saying that this would create serious imbalances.
‘It’s completely inconsistent, as passengers spending £1400 or more for a
premium economy ticket are going to be paying half the tax of
Silverjet
passengers paying £999 to fly business class,’ he said.
Further reading:
Business class flights face tax raid
Ryanair boss accuses chancellor of lying over air tax
E&Y slams air passenger tax increase