Airport Operators Warn Reeves Budget Will Cancel Flight Routes
Airports UK, the aviation industry’s trade body, is set to warn the Chancellor that Labour’s Budget risks grounding airports with sky-high business rates. A draft letter seen by Sky News‘ Mark Kleinman lays bare the damage and predicts a staggering fivefold rise in rates bills to over £1 billion. Causing route cancellations and higher passenger costs…
“Investment in airport assets will decrease, routes to and from the UK will be lost (as can already be seen in Germany where taxes are rising), trade will be hurt, and British travellers will be hit with higher costs and less choice. Without our sector as a major partner, the government’s ambition to secure the highest growth rate in the G7 and unlock an investment-led approach to transforming the economy will be materially damaged… Airports cannot be expected to sustain increases of this magnitude without having to scale back investment or to cut routes. These increases are punitive against all sizes of airports and threaten the very viability of several airports, without which critical regional connectivity would be lost.”
The letter brands the Budget “catastrophic” with some airports bracing for bills 12 times higher than before and average rates in England soaring by a jaw-dropping 450%. Industry insiders fear the move could leave regional airports fighting for survival. Reeves’ Budget heading for a crash landing…