Business and leisure passengers in Moray could benefit significantly

Moray’s MP Angus Robertson has welcomed the tabling of a motion in the Scottish Parliament by SNP MSP Kenny Gibson calling for the Air Passenger Duty to be devolved to Scotland as a matter of urgency.

In addition to the many people flying off on holidays many companies in Moray rely on air travel to do business effectively, which in turn provides significant employment opportunities in the region.

In Westminster Mr Robertson and his SNP colleagues have pushed for amendments to the Scotland Bill on the same issue and the local MP hopes that this two pronged attack will result in a positive outcome for Scotland.

Currently Air Passenger Duty is controlled centrally from London and as a result Scottish Airports are penalised, forcing air passengers to ‘routinely travel south of the border to benefit from cheaper flights’.

The owners of Aberdeen Airport, BAA, have said: ‘there is no good reason why passengers in Scotland should have to continue to travel in such numbers through other UK airports or should not benefit from levels of connectivity enjoyed in other parts of the UK’.

The SNP’s Mr Robertson said:

“ Moray has a significant reliance on good flight connections from both Aberdeen & Inverness but the pace of improvement in those connections is currently being hampered by the lack of control over Air Passenger Duty. At the present air travellers across Scotland are in a position of having to use more connecting flights than might otherwise be the case if we had that power in the Scottish Parliament.

“ Without that control we can’t incentivise airlines to provide more direct flights from Scotland, which would not only make life much easier and cheaper for business and leisure activity but it would also reduce the number of connecting flights required for current business levels. This would represent a substantial boost for the economy.

“ That is clearly a sensible way forward and one that the SNP is pushing hard at both Holyrood and Westminster.”

Business and leisure passengers in Moray could benefit significantly

Moray’s MP Angus Robertson has welcomed the tabling of a motion in the Scottish Parliament by SNP MSP Kenny Gibson calling for the Air Passenger Duty to be devolved to Scotland as a matter of urgency.

In addition to the many people flying off on holidays many companies in Moray rely on air travel to do business effectively, which in turn provides significant employment opportunities in the region.

In Westminster Mr Robertson and his SNP colleagues have pushed for amendments to the Scotland Bill on the same issue and the local MP hopes that this two pronged attack will result in a positive outcome for Scotland.

Currently Air Passenger Duty is controlled centrally from London and as a result Scottish Airports are penalised, forcing air passengers to ‘routinely travel south of the border to benefit from cheaper flights’.

The owners of Aberdeen Airport, BAA, have said: ‘there is no good reason why passengers in Scotland should have to continue to travel in such numbers through other UK airports or should not benefit from levels of connectivity enjoyed in other parts of the UK’.

The SNP’s Mr Robertson said:

“ Moray has a significant reliance on good flight connections from both Aberdeen & Inverness but the pace of improvement in those connections is currently being hampered by the lack of control over Air Passenger Duty. At the present air travellers across Scotland are in a position of having to use more connecting flights than might otherwise be the case if we had that power in the Scottish Parliament.

“ Without that control we can’t incentivise airlines to provide more direct flights from Scotland, which would not only make life much easier and cheaper for business and leisure activity but it would also reduce the number of connecting flights required for current business levels. This would represent a substantial boost for the economy.

“ That is clearly a sensible way forward and one that the SNP is pushing hard at both Holyrood and Westminster.”