This cut will benefit passengers and not the travel companies. Passengers pay APD, not airlines. Airlines transparently identify for passengers how much APD is charged on every ticket and do not charge a margin on APD. This would be a tax cut for hard working families – not a tax cut for airlines.
The travel and tourism sector is the UK’s fifth largest industry, supporting 3.1m UK jobs (roughly 10% of the UK workforce) and accounts for one third of all new employment in the UK since 2010. Aviation alone contributes £50bn of UK GDP and generates £8bn in Treasury revenues. Tourists contribute £1.8bn of UK GDP in duty-free spending.