Are airport duties destroying the low-cost flight market?

Are airport duties destroying the low-cost flight market?

Easyjet have blamed the increases in Airport Passenger Duty (APD) for their decision to cut flights out of Luton by a quarter. Easyjet have also announced that it has decided to cease it's operations at East Midlands airport. There is also talk of staff reductions at Stansted, Newcastle, Bristol and Belfast airports.

The airline said "APD in it's current form is particularly damaging to regional airports which do not benefit from transfer passengers for whom APD is not applicable. It is a pity that the Government is not basing the APD purely on emissions only but is instead making it a 'holiday' tax.

Villa Holidays spokesperson said that although there will be a reduction in the number of flights, the number of actual occupied seats would still be available, however this does mean that passengers looking to book direct with the owners of holiday villas will need to be much more flexible with their flight dates and times.