The Republic's Air Travel Tax (ATT) has been charged at only e3 (£2.50) per passenger since March 2011 and the government in the Republic has just announced that it will remove the tax altogether in April next year. Yet in Northern Ireland we are still paying £13 per passenger, per flight for short-haul journeys, and incredibly we pay more in taxes to fly to Glasgow than New York. In response to sustained pressure from many stakeholders, including the Consumer Council, the UK government reduced Air Passenger Duty (APD) for direct long-haul flights from Northern Ireland from £60 to the short-haul rate (then £12) in November 2011. Then on January 1 this year, with the devolution of responsibility for APD on direct long-haul flights, the Stormont executive took the decision to remove the charge here altogether. This was a welcome development but flights to long-haul destinations represent just a fraction of all journeys made by Northern Ireland passengers (98.5 per cent of journeys are short-haul and still subject to the £13 per flight charge on passengers). Only four other EU countries charge APD, all at lower rates than we do, and they are all in mainland Europe, which means passengers have the choice of other means of transport.
Given Northern Ireland's geographic location, we are heavily dependent on air travel, particularly to get to Britain and for access to hub airports. We are in a similar position to those living in the Scottish highlands and islands and yet flights departing from airports there are exempt from APD. Last November MPs supported a motion for Treasury to commission a comprehensive study into the full economic impact of APD in the UK. The Consumer Council wrote to the chancellor of the exchequer encouraging him to commission the study and stressing the importance of ensuring it has a specific focus on Northern Ireland consumers and our economy.
We need to know, as a matter of urgency, whether the proposed cost to the executive of removing APD - estimated at £60m to £90m would be outweighed by the benefit to consumers, business and the wider northern economy.
If we do nothing about APD the risk is that decreased demand for air services from Northern Ireland's airports could lead to a decline in the number of services and routes operated, reducing choice, convenience and competition for consumers living here. The Consumer Council is therefore restating our call on chancellor George Osborne to confirm the economic impact of APD for Northern Ireland and ensure local passengers are no longer unfairly affected by this charge. n Aodhan O'Donnell, is interim chief executive of the NI Consumer Council
* IMPACT: George Osborne