Reeves’s tax rises killing tourism, says BA chief
Reeves’s tax rises killing tourism, says BA chief
Christopher JasperSun, June 7, 2026 at 6:15 AM UTC
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The Chancellor's tax raids have come under fire for stifling growth - Wiktor Szymanowicz/Getty
Rachel Reeves's tax rises are killing Britain's tourism industry and driving overseas visitors to France and Spain, the boss of British Airways (BA) has warned.
Sean Doyle, the chief executive of Britain's flag carrier, said a series of raids imposed by the Chancellor were acting as "a penalty" on foreign families seeking to holiday in the UK.
Mr Doyle warned that air passenger duty (APD), increases to employer's National Insurance Contributions and green levies, together with the new tourism tax, were to blame for Britain's "anaemic" growth.
He added: "The Government needs to look at tourism numbers into the country. We're stuck at 37 million, and we've got a target of 50 million [by 2030].
"Unless we address the affordability issue, we're not going to get there. If you look at France or Spain, they have absolutely shot past us. Our passengers are the most taxed in the world."
Mr Doyle, BA's chief executive, says the 'biggest challenge in the country at the minute is growth' - British Airways
APD, which is a tax charged by airports on airlines, surged to a record high in April, with further inflation-linked increases due from next year.
The tax is passed on to passengers through higher fares and ranges from £15 to £106 for an overseas flight on an economy-class ticket depending on the distance flown.
Mr Doyle said pleas from airlines for Labour to reverse recent increases in APD had gone ignored.
He added: "For a family of five coming into the country and travelling, it's a huge penalty compared to what you have to pay in Europe.
"No matter what we say, it keeps going up."
The comments come as Labour plots a fresh £1bn tax grab on family holidays with plans to add VAT of 20pc on top of APD.
Ministers are said to be exploring the possibility of backdating the tax by as many as four years, a move which would add around £1bn to costs paid by airlines that fly from Heathrow alone.
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Mr Doyle warned that tax rises and fresh raids, including "overnight visitor levies" set to be imposed on tourists by local mayors across the UK, were undermining plans for a third runway at Heathrow.
He added: "The biggest challenge in the country at the minute is growth. Policy should be unlocking growth. But what have those policies done? They haven't unlocked growth.
"Look at youth unemployment and companies pulling back on entry-level jobs because of the National Insurance change.
"If you say that you want to promote tourism and aviation and expand aviation, the last thing you do to encourage that expansion is to put up the cost of it.
"If the Government says one thing but all of the various departments are going in the opposite direction, you've got a problem, which is why our growth's anaemic at the minute."
Mr Doyle said a decision to go ahead with Heathrow's £49bn blueprint for the third runway without cutting the cost of the project would also act as a brake on expansion.
He said a rival scheme being run by Surinder Arora, the hotels tycoon, to build the runway in phases would boost flights while allowing airlines to make the required investment in additional planes.
Otherwise, he warned, the increase in passenger capacity from the current 85 million a year to as many as 140 million might not be fully taken up.
The £49bn expansion plan includes a new 3.5km runway designed to increase capacity to 756,000 flights a year - iStockphoto
In addition to the threat of further tax rises, airlines are also at risk of jet fuel shortages as Iran continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade passage.
While Mr Doyle said there was no immediate risk of shortages, he warned airlines, including BA, were likely to cut availability this winter should jet fuel prices remain high.
He said: "What I don't want to do is fly loads of planes around, which are half empty [with passengers] with high fuel [prices]."
BA's parent company, International Airlines Group, is seeking to pass on at least 60pc of the fuel price increase to passengers, equivalent to a 5pc rise in ticket prices.
The Treasury was contacted for comment.
Source: “AOL Money”
