AIR PASSENGER DUTY ON FLIGHTS TO THE CARIBBEAN

That this House notes the Government's plans to introduce a new banding system for air passenger duty; believes that any duty should be based on the level of carbon emissions produced by flights rather than arbitrary zones based on location of a country's capital city; notes that actual distance travelled is a good approximation for carbon emissions; further notes that the new banding system will result in flights to the Caribbean incurring a higher tax than flights to the West Coast of the United States, despite being closer in distance to the UK; is concerned that this will disadvantage the many people who have friends and family in the Caribbean, while also failing to effectively curb carbon emissions; further notes that replacing the air passenger duty with a per plane tax would be fairer for passengers flying on busy routes; and calls on the Government to abolish the air passenger duty and replace it with a per plane aviation duty based on the actual distance travelled.