Member Article

Budget’s key aviation concessions applauded by North East airports

Two key announcements for regional airports within the Chancellor’s Budget have been well received in the North East.

A £20 million per year “Regional Air Connectivity Fund” will be used to encourage airlines to start-up new routes from regional airports, such as Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley.

Highlighting the measure in his speech, Mr Osborne said: “We want all parts of our country to see better links with the markets of the future, so we’re going to provide start-up support for new routes from regional airports, like Liverpool, Leeds or indeed Inverness.

“More support for businesses; competitive finance; cheaper global flights…”

Reform of Air Passenger Duty was a prominent part of the Budget speech. The top bands C and D will be abolished, cutting tax for passengers to China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets.

The manoeuvre means all long-haul flights will carry the same, lower, band B tax rate that travellers pay to fly to the US.

Chris Sanders, aviation development director at Newcastle International Airport, said: “We very much welcome the announcement that the Government will abolish the two highest bands of Air Passenger Duty. This is the first positive Government intervention in Air Passenger Duty for many years.

“We hope that this measure will boost passenger traffic at Newcastle International, by increasing the number of people using hub airports for both business and leisure as well as using our direct long haul services.

“Most of our major scheduled services should benefit from this budget announcement by connecting people to the world.

“We note that the Government has committed to extend the scope of the existing Regional Air Connectivity Fund to include start-up aid for new routes from regional airports.

“Newcastle International has been lobbying for measures to help regional airports for some time, and we look forward to studying the detail of this aspect of today’s budget which we hope will boost regional connectivity.”

The Institute of Civil Engineers in the North East also welcomed the support for new regional routes, suggesting the increased range would be good for localised economies.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .