NI scapped APD on long haul flights

Story: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/ ... thern.html

Having a non APD charging airport an easy commute away (including a round the clock public transport provision from Belfast to Dublin Airport) clearly is affecting the NI market.

Or maybe the market just can't support a long haul operation from Belfast in the first place.

Now if only we could persuade the Welsh Assembley to do the same and VS to fly from Cardiff Airport.

Now if only we could persuade the Welsh Assembley to do the same and VS to fly from Cardiff Airport.

More chance with Glasgow (depending what happens with the great independence debacle in 2014) ):

Will be interesting to see how "taxes" are explained with some of the airlines when this happens.....
:0 what's a fuel surcharge !

Hmmm, the "taxes" thing is a complete nonsense.

Virgin (and BA) are making a big issue of the APD increase on 1st April 2013 (£2 for Economy to £67 and £4 for Prem/Upper to £134), but having looked at the ticket breakdown I think they're on dodgy ground.

For an Economy upgradable ticket to Vegas:

Operating Airline Fuel & Insurance Surcharge £ 239.00

USA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service Fee £ 3.20
USA Immigration Service Fee £ 4.40
USA Customs User Fee £ 3.50
USA Transportation Tax £ 21.00
September 11th Security Fee £ 1.60
USA Passenger Facility Charge £ 2.80

UK Air Passenger Duty £ 67.00
UK Passenger Service Charge £ 11.20

Total Taxes & Surcharges £ 353.70

Ticket £ 628.00

Total £ 981.70

i.e. McCarran charges £2.80 to cover the airport facilities, Gatwick charges 4 times as much, the UK tax is 2 times the cost of the US taxes...so far so bad...but the total cost of all UK and US taxes is less than half the cost of the airline imposed 'Fuel Surcharge'.

It costs about £100,000 to fill up a 747-400 tank, so assuming that they don't plan to land on fumes, lets say it costs £80,000 to take 400 people...£200 per person to cover the fuel cost.

i.e. The Fuel Surcharge ("to allow for fuel price fluctuations") covers the total cost of the fuel.

It also makes you realise that you pay the cost price for a Reward Seat...all the airline is losing is the opportunity to sell it for a greater profit!

I think that APD should be halved to encourage people to visit and trade with the UK, and I far prefer Virgin to BA.....but once the Fuel Surcharge is incorporated in the basic cost of the ticket the difference between UK and US taxes is £34....not a lot more than you'll be charged to use your credit card to book it!

Shhhhh ! VS don't work in the same logical way as us ordinary mortals.

They like to give the impression that the biggest part of the 'extras' is the tax yet we all know that it is the YQ.

Posts about this issue on the VS facebook page pointing this out are totally ignored.

Comments that many US carriers don't charge YQ on reward fares are met with a generic comment on the lines of "we don't care what other airlines do" (yet strangely they do use the "other airlines do X so we will too" excuse for other things)

V-flyers have reported that VS staff have told them that YQ is a Tax and VS are simply passing it on !

They also like to give the impression that the UK is the only nation to charge any sort of tax on airfares again ignoring that Germany charges an equivalent to APD. True the Dutch has one but stopped and Eire reduced theirs.

The US charges a transportation tax and other nations levy various entry and departure taxes yet VS/BA never mention these.

If they were a little more honest then I might have some sympathy with their campaign to reduce/remove APD.

Given the high fuel costs it is no wonder they charge a surcharge! How much more does it cost to fill up your car than 5 years ago.... and if you look back 20 years airfares have hardly gone up in real terms.

Now... as for reward seats... totally agree there should be no extra charges ):

The 'fuel costs a lot' argument isn't unique to airlines - what about bus companies, couriers, etc.?

What about other businesses, for example jewellers - they don't include a surcharge to cover the change in the price of gold.

In any event, I would be amazed if Virgin didn't employ a team of people to forward purchase and hedge against fuel price fluctuations.

Until the YQ is included in the ticket base cost, complaining about APD (whilst I agree with the sentiment) comes across as a bit rich.

Until the YQ is included in the ticket base cost..

Agree with most of what you have put Nick although the YQ being folded into the base fare is highly unlikely to happen...

VS will then be unable to charge this little nugget on reward redemption tickets if so.. and if they tried to push up mileage needed to cover the cost then they would still lose the liquid cash injections they do need to keep flying.

Actually another spin on it.. Yes, it is a genuine fuel surcharge(!!) but not based on the stuff they pump into planes.. it is to fuel the company's survival and growth ):
No??

LOL!

Agreed.....I'm not expecting YQ to disappear anytime soon. n(