Brits may have to pay more for long-haul flights after the Budget

Chancellor Phillip Hammond has announced that the Air Passenger Duty tax will now rise in line with inflation from April 2020.

The tax is paid by passengers and is usually part of the price of the ticket.

This mean that that prices will go up by 2020 if inflation rises, which it is likely to.

However there will be no changes to tax on short-haul flights – which means that Brits will continue to benefit from cheap fares to Europe.

While added costs won’t be huge to long-haul destinations like the US an Asia, they will make a small extra dent in travellers’ holiday spending.

What is Air Passenger Duty?

It is charged on planes with more than 20 passenger seats, or more than ten tonnes authorised take-off weight – so nearly every long-haul flight. In April this year the tax rose to £78 per flight.

That’s a 30 per cent rise since 2010, when the tax was set at £60 for economy long-haul flights originating in the UK between 2,001 and 4,000 miles away.

That includes locations like Sharm El Sheikh, New York and Florida.

So a couple flying to Dubai, which is 3,400 miles from London will pay £156 in APD. The tax doesn’t apply for children.

APD on short-haul flights has been frozen at £13 per adult since 2012.

And the new changes to the Budget means that APD will rise in line with inflation.

Britain's aviation industry hit out at the government on Monday over its decision to increase APD, saying it made a mockery of the government's ambition for a “global Britain” after it leaves the European Union.

The owner of British Airways, IAG, said the tax hindered its efforts to fly to new trading markets.

A statement from IAG said: "It's ironic that this Brexit budget has undermined Britain's global competitiveness by upping Air Passenger Duty, the world's highest aviation tax, again.

"We want to offer more flights to key trading markets, like our European competitors, but APD stifles route development to new emerging markets. If Britain wants to compete on the global stage post Brexit, it should be scrapped now."

IAG said British Airways passengers paid £682million in APD last year.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said customers were already paying a levy that was twice that of any other EU nation, to leave the UK.

They said: "APD now accounts for more than a quarter of our lowest fare.”

Sun Online previously revealed that passport queues are set to get longer for Brits as e-passport gates are being opened up to travellers from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia.

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