Air Passenger Duty preventing lift off for Derry and must end: McLaughlin

City of Derry Airport (Lorcan Doherty Photography)

Derry SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin says Air Passenger Duty (APD) on flights between the North and Britain needs to be lifted to allow City of Derry Airport to take-off.

Mrs. McLaughlin, speaking at Stormont this week, also blamed APD for Flybe’s recent collapse into administration.

This, she said, had dealt “a huge blow to our local economy”.

“We are reliant on air links to get to Great Britain. For us, APD is an extra tax that makes it more expensive to fly and puts strain on our regional airports, both Belfast City Airport and the City of Derry Airport.

“To protect our regional connectivity, we need APD to end on flights between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

“The Highlands and islands of Scotland are recognised as being reliant on air connections, so APD is not levied on their flights. Exactly the same situation applies to NI, yet we are treated differently.

“That is discriminatory against NI and demonstrates that the UK Government are less concerned about us than they are about the north of Scotland.”