Airport bosses criticise unfair tax help for rival

BOSSES at Bristol Airport have criticised moves to hand power to  the Welsh Regional Assembly to set airport taxes in Wales.

The airport has claimed  the move will give Cardiff an unfair advantage  and could also affect the economy in Bristol and the surrounding area.
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Bristol Airport bosses want to stay on a level playing field with Cardiff

Bristol Airport is one of the most successful regional airports in the UK and has managed to maintain passenger levels despite the recession.

Lulsgate is the ninth largest airport in the UK, and the fifth largest outside London. Last year over   5.8 million passengers used the  airport and plans are in place to expand to ten million by the end of the decade.

But chief executive Robert Sinclair has reacted angrily to the a report in air passenger duty which has been published by the Silk Commission.

The report recommended the duty should be devolved to Wales for direct long-haul flights and added that devolving all rates to Wales should be considered in the future.

Mr Sinclair believes that the move would put Bristol at an unfair advantage in the market place.

He said: “We strongly object to the Silk Commission’s recommendation that air passenger duty on direct long haul flights should be devolved to Wales.

“The report is particularly disappointing as the Commission has ignored the strong evidence we submitted demonstrating the damaging effect that such a move would have on Bristol Airport and the economy of South West England.”

He added: “Politicians in London and Cardiff should be under no illusions that, if implemented, this recommendation would jeopardise jobs, connectivity and growth in the South West, with no net benefit to UK plc.

“Recent research by HM Revenue & Customs clearly demonstrated how a reduction in air passenger duty in Wales could have a complex, dramatic and damaging effect on the distribution of passengers between airports.

“There is no economic justification for distorting the market in this way, and there would only be one winner – the Spanish owners of Cardiff Airport. In our view, this would result in significant market distortion and could contravene EU State Aid rules.”

The airport says even if it is just restricted to direct long haul flights, a price advantage in Wales would put vital services from nearby English airports to European hubs at risk and severely undermine the business case for long-haul services from Bristol to the USA and Middle East.

As well as affecting the airport the move  could also have consequences for the South West’s inward investment market.

Mr Sinclair said: “The devolution of air passenger duty to the Northern Ireland Assembly is cited as a precedent in the report, but this ignores the very special circumstances in play in that case. Devolution of air passenger duty to Northern Ireland, enabling the rate on long-haul flights to be reduced, addressed a unique situation where a part of the United Kingdom shares a land border with another state – the Republic of Ireland – whose aviation duty is substantially lower, resulting in significant leakage over the border and jeopardising vital routes.

“The Silk Commission’s recommendation would create the very inequality the UK Government took steps to address in Northern Ireland.”

Sourced by This is Bristol

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