Ryanair says it has responded to the UK government’s move to halve Air Passenger Duty on domestic flights, by adding nine new UK routes for this summer.
The decision to cut the standard UK domestic APD rate from £13 to £6.50 was first announced by then Chancellor Rishi Sunak in October 2021, and came into effect from April 1, 2023.
Ryanair says that this has led it to open several new UK domestic routes – many of which have been announced in recent months.
The new services are from Belfast to Cardiff, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Manchester and Stansted, from Bournemouth to Edinburgh, from Edinburgh to Newquay and Stansted, and from Newquay to Stansted.
But the airline called on the UK government to go further and full abolish APD for all travel, stating that the domestic reduction “ignores international connectivity which is fundamental for the growth of the UK’s economy and tourism”.
Commenting on the news Ryanair’s head of communications, Jade Kirwan, said:
“Ryanair is pleased to announce nine new domestic UK routes in direct response to the UK Govt’s 50 per cent reduction in UK APD from April 1.
“Reducing APD will result in market growth in the UK, and these new routes show just that with 74 weekly flights scheduled across Belfast, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Edinburgh. East Midlands, London, Manchester, and Newquay representing 95 per cent growth on our UK domestic schedule compared to last Summer.
“While the halving of APD on domestic flights from Apr 2023 has allowed Ryanair to add more domestic routes to our UK schedule for Summer 2023, if we are to continue to grow and drive traffic/tourism recovery for the UK, the UK Govt should immediately scrap APD for all travel and provide incentives for airlines like Ryanair to stimulate growth and recovery for the entire UK market.”
