To ask His Majesty's Government how many private flights (1) took off, and (2) landed, in the UK in the most recent year for which figures are complete; and how much tax did those flights incur.
Answered on
21 November 2023
Data on receipts from Air Passenger Duty (APD) and chargeable passengers, including for the higher rate, can be found in the APD Bulletin on GOV.UK. [1]
Data on aircraft movements, including for business aviation and air taxis, are published by the Civil Aviation Authority. [2] These data are not collected from all UK airports, just those handling scheduled and major charter services, and so provide only a partial picture.
APD is the Government’s principal tax on the aviation sector, since tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. APD is paid by aircraft operators on a per passenger basis for flights departing UK airports; there are different rates according to a passenger's class of travel and the distance of their journey.
Operators with aircraft of over 20 tonnes equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers must pay the higher rate of APD, equal to £78 per passenger for domestic and short-haul flights and rising to £601 for ultra-long-haul flights. These private and business jets generally provide a higher class of service and so incur more in APD.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps APD under review and any changes are announced by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-passenger-duty-bulletin
[2] https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/9116/47a460b2-0592-4ef7-b24b-aa5e27ccfce4/5623