East Mids in Osborne airport tax call
The owner of East Midlands Airport has signed a joint letter to Chancellor George Osborne urging him to change government plans on aviation taxes.
The letter to Osborne was signed by Charlie Cornish from Manchester Airport Group, which owns the East Midlands site. Craig Richmond of Peel Airports and Paul Kehoe from Birmingham Airport also got on board.
They called on Osborne to replace the "one-size-fits-all" duty with a charge on only the busiest airports.
The letter reads: "The tax disproportionately affects airports outside of London's Heathrow and Gatwick. Regional airports have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn, and have a far lower percentage of business travellers, inbound tourists or wealthy passengers with a high propensity to fly.
"Without decisive action, the gap between the largest London airports and those in the regions will go on increasing.
"The government is committed to constraining the growth of the congested London airports preferring to see regional airports take the strain, but unless decisive action is taken, that simply won't happen."
The airports said the government should provide "economic incentives" to encourage airlines to move out of London.
It has been pointed out that APD in the UK is already up to 8.5 times more than the European average and is at the "highest in the world" with taxes of up to £170 per flight.
