Carrington slams London air traffic tax

Dec 15, 2009 News

Caricom Secretary General, Dr Edwin Carrington, slammed the United Kingdom’s proposed increase of the Air Passenger Duty (APD), applicable to flights originating from London. Carrington said that such a move is discriminatory and will severely affect the region’s tourism industry since 20 percent of tourists visiting the Caribbean region are from the United Kingdom.
The Secretary General was furious that although Hawaii in the United States is 7080 miles from London and while most of the Caricom countries are between 4000 and 4500 miles away, they still attract a much higher tax.
Explaining the calculation used by the UK authorities at arriving at the bands, Carrington said that it is measured from London, the capital of the UK, to the capital of the other countries and this is how the Caribbean region is hard done by such a move. He said that Hawaii benefits, because from London to the capital of the US, Washington, is just over 3000 miles and Hawaii is within the US.
The tax is to be increased. This classification means that come next year, the departure tax from London to countries within band C, where the Caribbean countries fall, will increase by 50 percent, while it will increase by 33 percent in band B, in which Hawaii falls.
Dr Carrington’s position on the matter is similar to Caricom Chairman, Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who heaped scorn on the move, branding it as discriminatory.
Dr Carrington said that Caricom Heads of Governments took a strong position on the issue and met with Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, at the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in Trinidad.
He said at that meeting they were advised by Brown to craft a proposal to subsequently make their case. He said that the region is looking to be reclassified and be placed in band ‘B’ by way of the Principle of Community of Interest.
To this end, the region is looking to be re-classified by using Bermuda as the community of interest. Carrington is not sure that such a proposal will be taken on board by the UK, but he said the effort will still be made.
Apart from strong lobbying against such a move by the region’s Diaspora in the UK and elsewhere, Caricom is also examining the UK’s commitment to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to see if breaches were made by that country with this latest move.
Word of the tax was first announced when the British government announced in its April 2009 budget that it intends to increase the airport passenger departure tax in November 2009 by between 25 per cent and 87 per cent, depending on the class of travel, with a further increase expected in November 2010.
The APD is currently considered a “green tax,” designed to account for aviations impact on the environment, which increases further a person’s travels.

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Carrington slams London air traffic tax

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