Air passenger duty to be cut in North

BRITISH CHANCELLOR of the exchequer George Osborne has confirmed that air passenger duty is to be cut in Northern Ireland in a move designed to safeguard the long-term future of Belfast’s only direct air link with North America.

Mr Osborne said the duty would be cut from November 1st for passengers travelling on direct long-haul routes from airports in Northern Ireland.

He also outlined that the UK government intended to devolve certain aspects of passenger duty to the Northern Ireland Executive.

The direct long-haul rate of passenger duty will fall to the lower short-haul rate – currently £12 (€13.80) per passenger in economy class and £24 for business and first-class passengers.

The passenger duty rate currently adds another £60 or £120 to the cost of an economy or business ticket for a long-haul flight.

Continental Airlines, which carries about 100,000 passengers a year between Belfast International Airport and Newark, had warned that the cost of passenger duty could ground the service.

But the chancellor said yesterday that the UK government had taken “proactive measures to protect the only direct long-haul service operating from Northern Ireland and with it the jobs of those who serve the Belfast route”.

Mr Osborne said the government recognised that the North faced “a unique challenge in attracting traffic – including very valuable business customers – into its airports”.

“Northern Ireland’s airports operate in unique circumstances within the UK,” he said.

“The land border with the Republic of Ireland, with its differential rates of air passenger tax, had threatened to make long-haul flights from Belfast uneconomic.”

Northern Ireland Minister of Finance Sammy Wilson described the announcement as good news for the local economy.

First Minister Peter Robinson said the loss of the Continental Airlines service would have “had a hugely negative effect on our economy”.