United Kingdom

 

The politics affecting business travel

Airport expansion, APD and a whole lot of disagreement...

 

A number of controversial transport decisions have dominated headlines and discussion at Westminster recently.

 

Airports, capacity and politicians

• Patrick McLoughlin replaced Justine Greening as Transport Secretary, which means only one thing: a third runway at Heathrow is back on the table…although not until 2015

• In line with McLoughin’s appointment, Howard Davies’ Government-commissioned review will look at “all options” including a third runway at Heathrow and a new four-runway hub on the Thames Estuary

• The Liberal Democrats reaffirmed their opposition to airport expansion. In Brighton, party delegates backed a motion opposing new runways at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick

• Labour will soon start to develop their 2015 election manifesto, which will almost certainly include plans for aviation expansion in the south-east

• Only six UK regional airports are served by Heathrow today. In 1990 that number was 18

 

APD, what is the future?

• The UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) on flights is now the highest air passenger tax in the world

• MPs received more than 200,000 emails in one of the biggest social media campaigns ever co-ordinated, following a summer campaign by the lobbying group A Fair Tax on Flying

• A total of 17 MPs have been sent over 1,000 emails about APD. As a result they are expected to debate the issue before the Christmas recess

• Despite this, it’s predicted that the Chancellor will stick to plans for a 4% increase in APD.

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