Air Passenger Duty on private jet flights
UK chancellor Phillip Hammond is facing calls from backbench MPs and the transport industry to abolish Air Passenger Duty (APD) in his Autumn statement.
The tax, which applies to departures from UK airports, is the most expensive aviation excise duty in the world. Many opponents argue it damages the country’s competitiveness – and that scrapping it would give a much-needed boost to the UK economy.
Whether or not the tax remains for airline flights, private jet flights may continue to be liable. So we’ll be watching with interest. In the meantime, here’s how APD currently works for private flights.
APD on private jet flights
Since April 2013, Air Passenger Duty (APD) has applied to passengers of private jets, in addition to airline flights.
The tax applies to flights in any aircraft with an authorised take off weight of 5.7 tonnes or more, for a departure from a UK airport. The tax is calculated and paid by the aircraft’s operator, with the cost added to the charter price charged to the customer.
APD applies to many private jet flights in small, medium or larger sized aircraft – just flights in very light jets, such as a Citation Mustang at 3.9 tonnes, scrape in at under the weight limit.
Private jet flights in small and medium sized aircraft are subject to Standard Rate APD – the same rate as a business or first class airline seat. The tax is calculated per passenger and in bands, according to the distance of the journey.
The Higher Rate APD band, for flights of 20 tonnes or more with less than 19 passengers, applies to flights on larger long range private jets such as Gulfstream’s G400, G550 and G650, a Challenger 300, or a Global 6000.
In April 2015, the government reduced the distance bands to just two (previously there were four), and raised the rates payable in the Higher Rate band. This substantially increased the tax on flights in larger private jet aircraft.
Flights from Scottish Highlands and Islands airports are not subject to APD, regardless of their weight.
How much does APD add to a private jet charter cost?
Let’s consider a typical short European flight in a Citation XL medium jet, from London to Paris with a payload of 3 passengers (see average passenger numbers and other stats in our quarterly Private Jet Charter Trends report).
The current APD payable on this flight is £26 per person, so a total of £78 for the journey. This represents around 2% of a typical one-way charter price of £3,200.
For the Higher Rate (larger jets) the tax ranges from £78 per passenger on a short flight, to £438 per passenger on a flight of 2000 miles or more. So APD has a greater impact here.
For example if 8 people are travelling in a Gulfstream G400 from London to New York, the tax payable is £3,504 (£438 per person). This equates to around 6% of an average one-way price of £59,500 on this aircraft for this route.
Whatever the tax liability, at PrivateFly this is always included in the quoted charter price from the outset, so there are no surprises later. The only exception being if passenger numbers change, as APD is payable per passenger.
Current rates of APD for private jet flights
Here are the current of APD, which apply to both airline and private jet flights from the UK. The reduced rate of APD applies only to economy airline seats:
AIR PASSENGER DUTY: £ per passenger payable from 1 April 2016 |
|||
| Miles from UK | Reduced rate (Airline economy seats) | Standard rate (Airline business & First Class; small & medium private jets) | Higher rate (Long range private jets with fewer than 19 seats) |
| Band A (0-2000 miles) |
£13 |
£26 |
£78 |
| Band B (over 2000 miles) |
£67 |
£146 |
£438 |
If you have any questions on Air Passenger Duty and how it applies to your private flight, contact us or speak to our expert Flight Team on +44 (0) 1747 642 777 (24 hours).
Related content
How abolishing APD in Scotland will impact business aviation in the UK
Chancellor gives date for introducing APD to private jet flights