Air Passenger Duty (APD) is set to rise on April Fools’ Day both this year and next. In Jeremy Hunt’s last budget as Tory chancellor, he imposed rises at or above the rate of inflation from 1 April 2025. His replacement, Labour’s Rachel Reeves, has kept those increases and imposed more of her own from 1 April 2026.
APD is the tax that passengers aged 16 and over must pay when flying from most UK airports.
Air passenger duty is seen as a perfect tax by politicians. It is difficult to avoid and easy to collect, because airlines do all the work and send the Treasury a cheque. As the Treasury said when publishing the increase: “HMRC will not incur any costs making these changes.”
APD is unique to the UK, and a topic of much controversy:
The debate is set to intensify, along with an increasing number of travellers avoiding APD through a variety of means.
These are the key questions and answers.
A brief history of air passenger duty?
The man responsible for APD was the last Conservative chancellor of the 20th century, Kenneth Clarke. He told me: “Aviation was in an unusual position in that it’s the only form of transport where no one was paying any tax on the fuel that it uses.
“For years and years governments have regarded it as totally normal to impose tax on petrol, diesel fuel and everything used by land and sea. For historic reasons nobody was placing any tax on air fares.
“For me that was an anomaly, not least because people who use aviation tend to be slightly more prosperous than those who use other forms of transport.”
As international aviation agreements generally rule out a tax on jet kerosene, Mr Clarke instead imposed air passenger duty of £5 on each European flight, and £10 on long-haul services. It applied to all passengers above one year of age starting a journey at a UK airport, and took effect in 1994 – just a year before easyJet started flying.
What has happened since?
Mostly, APD has increased – partly because it can be presented as a “green” initiative, dampening demand for aviation. And many of the people who pay it are foreign visitors and do not vote in the UK.
The next chancellor, Gordon Brown, doubled the tax for business- and first-class seats. (One bizarre loophole, since closed, meant that passengers on the world’s most expensive aircraft, Concorde, paid the same as budget airline travellers to Morocco.)
Since 2016, APD has not applied to under-16s travelling in basic economy – but it is payable for higher classes.
In a rare counter to the general upward trend, in 2023, Rishi Sunak halved air passenger duty on domestic flights – encouraging a move from rail, sea and road to air for journeys within the UK.
How is air passenger duty calculated?
The rate depends on two factors: the traveller’s final ticketed destination and the class of travel.
“Final ticketed destination”
If you are travelling on a “through ticket,” eg. Manchester-Amsterdam-Los Angeles or Birmingham-Frankfurt-Mumbai, the long-haul rate applies (unless you are spending over 24 hours at the transit point).
Class of travel
In anything but basic economy, a higher rate is payable – and all passengers aged two or over must pay it. The extra tax is triggered by “a seat pitch in excess of 40 inches”.
Passengers on private jets pay a vast amount more. These are defined as: “Aircraft of 20 tonnes and above with fewer than 19 seats.”
In terms of destinations, there are four different categories: UK domestic flights, plus three classes for international travel.
What are the rates?
From 1 April 2025, they are as follows (second figure is for anything but basic economy):
For private jets, the tax is between £84 and £647 per person.
From 1 April 2026, they will all rise, as follows
For private jets, the tax will be between £142 and £1,141 per person.
What’s the effect on families?
For a family of four (with children between two and 15), the total APD from April 2026 will be:
How can I avoid APD?
These are some of the tax-avoiding options:
1. Don’t fly.
2. Be under 16 and travel in basic economy (or under two in business class)
3. Fly into the UK on one plane and out within 24 hours on another and have them both included in the same ticket.
4. Be a pilot or member of cabin crew on duty.
5. Be repatriated after being refused admission to the UK.
6. Fly on a route from a UK airport that is not subject to air passenger duty.
I can’t manage 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5; how do I find an APD-free flight?
Fly from the Scottish Highlands and Islands Region, which includes Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, Oban, Campbeltown and Inverness.
Remarkably, even if you are fly from Inverness to London Heathrow and onwards to a long-haul destination, the tax saving applies. Flying from Aberdeen to Singapore on British Airways on 1 April, for example, costs £583 return – but from Inverness the fare is just £497, saving 15 per cent on the trip.
Long-haul flights direct from Belfast are also free of tax, but there are few of them. Note that you do not save by flying to another UK hub, as you do in the case of Inverness.
To be kinder to the planet, you could travel terrestrially to a foreign airport: by sea (or overland from Northern Ireland) to Dublin; by sea to the Netherlands; or on a Eurostar train to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam.
How can I reduce APD?
You could fly to Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin or any other European airport and buy a separate ticket from there. For transatlantic flights, there is an extra benefit of travelling via the Irish capital: you complete US arrival formalities while at Dublin airport.
But you will assume the risk of a misconnection, and furthermore because the UK is so competitive for air fares, you may not save money.
A smarter way to do it is to build in a stopover of 24 hours or more at the connecting point. The airline should automatically charge you the lower rate. In effect, since you are saving £77 (in 2025-26), the chancellor is paying for a short break for you.
Reykjavik and Istanbul are particularly good for North America and Asia/Africa respectively.
What if I fly in economy on the first leg but business for the rest?
If you are on a through ticket, the business-class rate applies to the whole journey.
If I book a flight and don’t show up for it, who gets the tax?
The airline. While carriers collect APD up to a year in advance, the obligation to pass it on to the government crystallises only when the passenger flies. In theory you can claim it back, but in practice some airlines and travel agents impose fees that are designed to render attempts pointless – with a handling fee that is the same or more than the tax refund.
How do I get a refund of APD if I don’t travel?
Some carriers make it straightforward. EasyJet says: “If you cancel, miss or do not take your flight ... you can claim a full refund of government tax for the flight(s) you do not take. You can do this by contacting our Customer Services Team. This is most easily done through the airline’s contact form. Select “Government Tax Refund” from the drop-down menu.
British Airways says: “ If you do not use your ticket, you will be entitled to claim a refund of any taxes, fees and charges which you paid, less a reasonable service charge.” If you booked direct with BA, you use the online refund portal.
Ryanair has a good online portal for refund applications. But also has a Government Tax Refund Administration Fee of £20 per passenger, which means it is pointless applying for Air Passenger Duty of £13 (rising to £15).
Virgin Atlantic says: “If your ticket is non-refundable and you do not use all or part of it, you can still apply a refund of taxes ... We will deduct an administration fee of no more than £30 per passenger.” As all Virgin Atlantic flights are long-haul, this is well worth applying for if you do not travel.
Wizz Air claims: “We pay all taxes and charges relating to your booking ... All such taxes and charges are non-refundable.” The airline implies that it has paid Air Passenger Duty in advance, whereas APD is payable only after the passenger has departed.
Read more: Baggage allowance guide – luggage limits for British Airways, Ryanair, easyJet and more
