APD potentially adding up to £30 on cost of Derry-Dublin return flight: tourism expert
A tourism expert has warned the imposition of air passenger duty on the southbound leg of the new Derry to Dublin flight could potentially add up to £30 on the cost of a return trip.
Dr. Joanne Stuart, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance, has consistently called for APD to be scrapped.
The NI Tourism Alliance boss was asked about the proposed new Derry-Dublin Public Service Obligation (PSO) route during a recent briefing of the NI Affairs Committee.
"It is good news, but we are adding potentially another £18 or £30 to the cost of a return trip,” she warned.
Labour MP and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Mike Kane said he believed there should be an APD holiday for new routes. This, he declared, would help facilities such as City of Derry Airport.
"I would argue for APD holidays for new routes, which I think would hugely benefit a city like Derry/Londonderry, that could prove commercially that those routes could happen,” said Mr. Kane.
The Manchester-based MP said APD was ‘a massive disincentive on the island of Ireland, when the Republic does not charge as much—or any APD at all’.
Last month tourism minister Dr. Caoimhe Archibald said the imposition of APD on the Derry-Dublin flight put the ‘the route at a competitive disadvantage from the outset’ and risked ‘undermining the benefits that the service is intended to deliver’.
The new service was due to get off the ground last month but in September the Dublin Department of Transport said it hoped a contract could be ‘awarded this year’ with services ‘commencing on the route as soon as operationally feasible by the successful operator’.
Last year a major new aviation report, ‘A Pathfinder for Irish Aviation’, called for APD to be scrapped.
‘Pathfinder’ was commissioned by the Irelandia group, which is chaired by Dr. Declan Ryan, founder with his late father Tony of Ryanair, now Europe’s largest airline and the third biggest worldwide.
APD was first introduced by the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke in his 2023 November budget and took effect the following year.