News: Branson campaigns against flight tax increase
Flights > News > # 2178 (04/06/2009)
Virgin Atlantic founder Sir Richard Branson is set to launch a high profile public awareness campaign slamming planned hikes in Air Passenger Duty (APD).
Sir Richard revealed that anti-APD messages would appear on Virgin tickets and on company websites. He warned that more hikes in APD were a threat to the livelihood of the whole British travel industry.
The government pockets £3 billion a year through APD, but the Virgin boss said there is no evidence that funds are going towards developing cleaner energy sources as promised.
Speaking to the TravelMole website, Sir Richard said: “The Chancellor must be careful not kill off the British economy by killing trade and killing off the British travel industry.
“We will make it an electoral thing so passengers realise that taxes on travel and holidays have gone up by 300% and that the money is not going towards helping the environment.”
He also pointed out that Virgin Group companies were investing 100% of their profits – around £300 million so far – into investigating ways to develop alternative energy sources.
“The more they tax us, the less we will have to invest in clean energy. This government doesn’t seem to have a big plan to deal with carbon emissions,” he added.
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