BA boss warns costly aviation taxes and rail tickets are stunting UK growth

UK lagging behind rivals on tourism growth because of travel costs and lack of joined-up planning, says CEO Sean Doyle

The cost of travel to and around the UK is keeping millions of tourists away and slowing economic growth, the boss of British Airways said, as he urged a rethink of aviation taxes.

The airline’s chief executive, Sean Doyle, said the UK had some of the highest aviation taxes in the world and was falling behind countries such as Japan, France and Germany in boosting its inbound tourism.

The UK would not hit ambitious targets for domestic tourism without making travel easier and more affordable, Doyle added.

Air passenger duty across most flights was raised by 15% in April, up to £8 a passenger on domestic flights, £15 for European departures, and up to £253 in premium economy seats on long-haul flights.

“What’s the biggest challenge in the country at the minute? It’s growth. And what should policy be doing? It should be unblocking growth. If you want to promote tourism and aviation … the last thing you do to encourage that expansion is put the cost of it up,” Doyle said.

The government has set a target of welcoming 50 million international visitors to the UK by 2030, up from about 40 million tourists at present.

However, Doyle warned: “Unless we address the affordability issue we’re not going to get there. If you look at France and Spain, they’ve absolutely shot past us. A big part of it is cost, if you look at the surveys. If we want to hit 50 million and want the economic benefit of that, we’re going to have to change the affordability proposition to tourists.”

He said aviation taxes on flights around and out of the country were a factor, as well as rail ticketing: “The other thing is the lack of options to travel around the UK, because of things like rail networks which are fragmented, the lack of [rail] passes – the lack of a kind of curation of tourists is a big issue.”

“We end up with tourism concentrated in places like London and Edinburgh, but the rest of the economy doesn’t get the benefit of it.

“I think air passenger duty is a part of that – for a family of five coming into the country and travelling, it’s a huge penalty compared to what you pay in Europe.” EXAMPLE OF TAX RATES HERE?

Speaking to reporters at an international airlines summit in Rio, the Iata annual meeting, Doyle also warned that the government’s backing for Heathrow’s third runway in pursuit of economic growth could backfire if the airport developed its own scheme at the cost of airlines paying higher charges and reducing their own investments.

BA and other airlines have urged the government to pursue a cheaper alternative scheme for a third runway than the current £33bn preferred option proposed by the airport.

Doyle said: “There’s an ambition on infrastructure expansion in Heathrow, but if the cost is too high, the other side of that growth, which is airlines coming in with planes and investing their capital into the sector, that may not come.”

Flights to the Iata summit were provided by Iata and Latam airline