Williams Encourages Gove to Encourage an Ambitious Target for Reducing Airline Passenger Duty

Mid & East Antrim Councillor, Alderman Noel Williams, has received an assurance from Michael Gove that he will ask the Chancellor to consider reducing Airline Passenger Duty (APD) by 50% by April 2022.

Mr Williams said: “Last week I attended an Executive meeting of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA), at which the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove MP, gave a presentation.

“As a Councillor and a Member of the NILGA Executive, I took the opportunity to raise Sir Peter Hendy’s Union Connectivity Report with Minister Gove, specifically around the issue of APD.

“In the Hendy Review, there is a commitment to reduce APD by 50% by April 2023. In my opinion, this objective is not ambitious enough, and so I asked Minister Gove to consider changing the target date to April 2022.

“Whilst it is not in Minister Gove’s remit to bring about this change personally, he stated that he was prepared to champion my ask in discussions with the Chancellor”.

In conclusion, Mr Williams said: “Halving APD would be a huge step in reducing barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. A reduction in the cost of air travel would make commuting more economical, and could boost tourism across the UK regions”.