Latest News

The Air Passenger Duty (APD) is hampering efforts by regional hubs to attract new airlines, according to a consortium of airports, including Birmingham, Bristol, and Kent. Jonathan Bailey, chief of external affairs at Manchester Airport Group (MAG) said that the tax means that small airports have “no future”.

Civil Aviation Authority figures have revealed that passenger numbers at the MAG-owned Bournemouth Airport have fallen from 200,000 for the first quarter of 2007, to just 60,000 for the same period this year, a slump of 70%. Exeter, Prestwick, and Doncaster’s Robin Hood airports have also reported an exodus, with the South Yorkshire hub experiencing a 58% reduction in visitors over the last three years. The culprit, claim airport bosses, is a steady rise in APD, coupled with the bourgeoning success of Heathrow and Gatwick.

Representatives from the UK’s regional airports say that driving business away from Heathrow and Gatwick, via a ‘congestion tax’, would allow smaller hubs to attract more and larger carriers.

“If passengers and airlines want to fly out of airports which are congested then they should pay a premium for doing so”, explained Kent Manston boss, Charles Buchanan. Mr. Buchanan likened the situation at Heathrow Airport, which operates at (or close to) 100% capacity, to the problems experienced by motorists on London’s busiest roads. Motorists in England’s capital, noted the Kent Airport chief, pay a “premium” for the privilege of attending the 5 o’clock crawl through Piccadilly Circus.

Manchester and Birmingham airports operate at 57% and 41% capacity, respectively, which, in layman’s terms, means that they are essentially, half-empty. The two hubs have expressed a readiness to alleviate the pressure on Heathrow Airport, by requesting that willing airlines are plucked from London, and deposited in the North and the Southwest of England. However, the plan would require the construction of a high-speed railway network in order to be a success.

The congestion charge is being touted as a replacement for APD. The tax would scale according to the number of occupied aeroplane slots at an airport. Overloaded hubs would pay more, while the smallest airports could well become exempt from the punitive levy.